Critique Of The Cakewalk Dance

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Legendary jazz artist, Nina Simone, once said, “To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that 's not what I play. I play black classical music.” This quote perfectly embodies how the Cakewalk dance was treated during its dawning in the late 19th century. The dance was both praised and criticized by its observers. The Cakewalk started out as a way for African-American slaves to mock their masters and live in autonomy. But, quickly enough, the Cakewalk gained popularity and began to evolve into formal dance competitions where the winning couple would be awarded a large and ornate cake. The Cakewalk’s popularity was also a result of minstrel shows where white actors in blackface and poor black actors and actresses would …show more content…

A newspaper from 1899 refers to a Negro paper that said, “There is nothing elevating or ennobling about ‘coon songs’ and ‘rag-time music’ and the cakewalk is positively degrading”. This critique is interesting because it is not only by African Americans, but it scorns African Americans. Even though it is odd to say, one could understand where some Cakewalk critics come from if they stay open-minded. Another colored critic from 1897 shared his feelings about a cakewalk in a newspaper that said, “He thinks the exhibition vulgar and degrading to its participants.” and “All the quaint charm of the old negro who did these things for their own sake is lost by these people who do them as a matter of show. Their self-consciousness spoils their naturalness.” The critic’s accusations of the dancers only performing to put on a show rather than “the purpose of keeping alive a characteristic custom of the negro” are comprehensible. While it is certain that some dancers performed honorably, the critic seems to have been justified in his opinion that dancing without a meaningful purpose is rather shameful. White critics had similar things to say about the Cakewalk, and another way that whites degraded African Americans was through sheet music covers filled with stereotypes and

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