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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 6 page paper discusses the cakewalk dance, how it was created and the popularity it enjoyed in the United States and Paris. Slaves created the dance as a parody, to mock their masters. The dance found itself in the mainstream first through slave owners holding contests and then, through minstrels. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGckdnc.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
The cake part of the name comes from the prize; the best dancers received a piece of cake, which was a treat slaves seldom enjoyed (The Journal of Blacks in
Higher Education, 2005; University of Virginia, 2002). Slaves saw their masters in their finest formal clothing dancing the minuet and other dances that were popular among the high society population
in that era (Rag-Time.com, n.d.). The dances the white population were performing involved a lot of circling and bowing, all of which was done with a rather stiff posture (Rag-Time.com,
n.d.). The performance they were watching must have seemed silly, at best (Rag-Time.com, n.d.). Slaves were always looking for ways to mock their masters without the masters knowing they were
being made fun of. While the ball was going on in the mansion, the slaves would put on their own finest clothes and perform their own version of the white
dances. One author described the slaves dance as "strutting around like high-stepping [peacocks]" (Rag-Time.com, n.d.). Couples would line up facing each other and each couple "would take a turn
at a high-stepping promenade through the others" (Lucas, 2002). As a parody, slaves no doubt exaggerated the movements they observed. They would also have been using their own music and
including at least some of the traditional African dance movements in their mocking. In fact, Ellison said that the slaves were "burlesqueing [sic] the white folks and then going on
to force the steps into a choreography uniquely their own" (Veitch, 1996, p. 313). This would have allowed the slaves to incorporate some of their own cultural music and movements
while mimicking their masters formal postures. At some point, the masters discovered what the slaves were doing. Ellison suggests the whites may have perceived the slaves performances as flattery "by
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