During a visit to Sugar Hill, you'll have the chance to view Kameelah's extensive collection of 100+ year old Cakewalk sheet music. They represent a piece of history well worth learning about.

The Cakewalk originated among American black slaves who, often in the presence of their masters, performed an exaggerated parody of white ballroom dances and white society in general. The Cakewalk dance imitated the mannerisms of the "Big House" (master's house) occupants with a high-kicking, grand promenade; mimicking the "dignified" walking and bowing, while waving canes and doffing hats.

Some of the ‘better’ plantation owners would bake a cake on Sundays and invite the neighbors over to watch the slaves perform a Cakewalk contest. Different prizes were given, but originally it was a cake. Whoever won would get the cake, thus the dance was named the Cakewalk. The phrase “That takes the cake!”, still commonly used today, also originated from these early performances.
By the end of the 19th century the Cakewalk became the most popular element of both minstrel shows (in which white men put on black face and danced and sang “like blacks”) and early black theatrical stage. It was generally performed as a grand finale, complete with elaborate choreography and costumes. The Cakewalk became a popular stage act for expert dancers, as well as a craze in fashionable ballrooms at the turn of the twentieth century.

 

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