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
18.
The passage most strongly suggests ████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Walker broadened the ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████
Strongly supported. Walker helped the cakewalk appeal to a range of audiences by highlighting certain existing elements of the dance that different audiences particularly liked. She emphasized the dance’s
b
Walker's version of ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███████ ██████████
Unsupported. The author lays out the reasons for the success of Walker’s cakewalk in P4. Satire isn’t one of them.
c
Walker popularized the ████████ ██ ██████████████ ███████ ███████████ ███████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █ █████████ ████████ ██████
Anti-supported. The author indicates that Walker had a
d
Walker added a ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████████ ████ ███ █████ █████████
Anti-supported.
e
Walker revitalized the ████████ ██ █████████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████
Anti-supported. The author doesn’t suggest that Walker separated the cakewalk’s African elements from its European ones. In fact, he suggests that the fusion of African and European elements was fundamental to the cakewalk, and we have no reason to think that Walker strayed from that fusion. To the contrary—Walker created a dance that was considered