Self-study
P1
Aida Overton Walker (1880–1914), one of the most widely acclaimed African American performers of the early twentieth century, was known largely for popularizing a dance form known as the cakewalk through her choreographing, performance, and teaching of the dance. ███
Intro topic ·
How Walker popularized the cakewalk dance
Details of cakewalk ·
Origins and key characteristics
Originated by African Americans before Civil War, based on West African dances
P2
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More details of cakewalk ·
European elements added which contrast with African elements
Consequences of Euro influences ·
Originally parody of European dance, but ended up appealing to European Americans
Evolution of cakewalk ·
Parodied by European Americans
Started as African American parody of European American dancing; developed into European American parody of African American dancing
P3
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Author's perspective ·
on cakewalk's success
Cakewalk's broad, cross-cultural appeal was important and necessary to its success, given the socioeconomic conditions of the time
P4
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Author's perspective ·
on Walker's role in cakewalk's success
Walker popularized cakewalk by meeting different audiences' expectations
Example ·
of how Walker appealed to one audience
Walker's version of the cakewalk was refined and graceful, appealing to middle-class African Americans
Another example ·
of how Walker appealed to a second audience
Walker's version of the cakewalk was considered authentic, appealing to middle- and upper-class European Americans
Final example ·
of how Walker appealed to a third audience
Walker's version of the cakewalk had certain elements ("grand flourishes") that appealed to newly rich audiences
Passage Style
Single position
Spotlight
13.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Walker, who was ██████████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ████████
Too narrow. This just reshuffles the first sentence of the passage. The author doesn’t argue that Walker was simply widely recognized or acclaimed; in fact, he doesn’t support that claim at all. He simply notes Walker’s acclaim, and then spends the rest of the passage talking about the cakewalk and how Walker was able to popularize the dance.
b
In spite of ███ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ███ █████ █████ ██████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████████████ ███████
Anti-supported. The author argues that cakewalk had broad appeal
c
Walker popularized the ████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ █████████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █████████
The main point is how Walker popularized the cakewalk, and (C) is a decent summary of how she did so. The dance had built up a “complex cultural mix” by taking a culturally important dance and blending in satire and parody, which attracted both African American and European audiences. Walker “capitalized” on that diverse audience by helping the cakewalk appeal to different people in different ways.
d
Whereas other versions ██ ███ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ █████████████
Unsupported. The author doesn’t suggest that “other versions of the cakewalk... were primarily parodic in nature” or that they didn’t involve cultural preservation.
e
Because Walker was ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████
Inaccurate. The author says that the cakewalk was just