“...the cake walk was originally a plantation dance, just a happy movement they did to the banjo music because they couldn’t stand still. It was generally on Sundays, when there was little work, that the slaves both young and old would dress up in hand- me-down finery to do a high-kicking, pranc- ing walk-around. They did a take-off on the manners of the white folks in the “big house”, but their masters, who gathered around to watch the fun, missed the point. It’s supposed to be that the custom of a prize started with the master giving a cake to the couple that did the proudest move- ment.”


-Ragtime entertainer Shepard Edmonds, 1950


Why include elements of Cakewalking and Ring Shouts in Porgy and Bess? What does dance mean to a commu- nity like Catfish Row?


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