PT125.S1.P3.Q18 > Analytics

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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

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Details of cakewalk · Origins and key characteristics

Originated by African Americans before Civil War, based on West African dances

More details of cakewalk · European elements added which contrast with African elements

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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

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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

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 ████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

This is an inference from the author's perspective question. The author discusses Walker’s significance briefly at the start of P1 and much more in P4. His view is that she was important for popularizing the cakewalk, and that she did so by emphasizing certain aspects of the dance that appealed to a range of audiences.

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 fundamental grace and showcased certain elements that people felt were authentic to the dance.

38%

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.

Walker popularized the ████████ ██ ██████████████ ███████ ███████████ ███████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █ █████████ ████████ ██████

Anti-supported. The author indicates that Walker had a singular interpretation of the cakewalk, and different aspects within that one interpretation (grace, authenticity, and flourish) appealed to different groups. The author doesn’t suggest that Walker ever created multiple different versions of the dance.

47%

Walker added a ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████████ ████ ███ █████ █████████

Anti-supported. European American performers were the ones to first parody other cakewalk performers. And though the term “mimetic vertigo” appears in the passage, it’s used to describe the cakewalk’s broader history of layering different parodies on top of each other. It’s not a reference to Walker’s work specifically.

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 the most authentic version of the cakewalk.

PrepTest 125 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 18

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