I'm no expert on Bacup, but I'm inclined to think that there is a strong music hall influence in the custom. So maybe reports of them being rooted in blackface minstrelsy aren't that wide of the mark.

Having said that, I can see no similarity whatsoever to the demeanour, or the costumes, of the Bacup dancers and the awful fawning, eye rolling, Jim Crow spectacle that was the Black & White Minstrel Show.