Cakewalk

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History
In the late 19th  century, African American slaves imitated the Seminole Indians created the Cakewalk. The idea was to form a partnership where couples would be seen walking solemnly side by side. Those who performed this dance would walk in a straight line while also balancing buckets of water on their heads. Eventually, this dance progressed into a parody of what the white upper class represented. These performers, typically slaves, would mock their masters and use the Cakewalk as a source of fun by strutting, flirting, bowing, and waving canes along with high kicking. Unaware that they were actually being mimicked, some masters found this amusing. The Cakewalk was then used as a form of entertainment for these plantation owners and their guests by having contests to see who had the best ‘slave walker’. The winners of this contest would then be awarded with an enormous cake, thus how the dance retrieved its title. By the late 1800’s the Cakewalk became extremely popular and was being performed in minstrel shows.

References


 * History and Development of Dance