The Cakewalk

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Growing up as a competitive dancer, I was never taught where my dancing historically came from. I was fed the choreography by my dance teachers, and believed that each style originated in America and Europe. I was only exposed to “whitewashed” and “Americanized” versions of dance, which ultimately resulted in the fabricated lens I saw dance through. Little did I know that every tap, jazz, and hip-hop dance I performed was stolen from original native countries, with no representation in America from where they obtained these dance styles. This issue has been relevant since the early 1900s, where ideas were stolen, made popular in America, with credit given to the wrong people. To begin, this injustice and racism within our country is seen in …show more content…
They did this by impersonating the upright posture and extravagant clothing, while still keeping Africanist aesthetic elements within their lower body. This is shown as the dancers stiffly elevate their upper body, while their arms uniformly hold in a still pose, and their legs hinge at the knees, pulsating in and out. This dance style and the aspects within it were stolen by upper-class white people such as Vernon and Irene Castle, and transformed to fit the appropriate standards of dance in America. As the Castles’ were one of the most influential ballroom style teachers, they took traditional ragtime ideals from African Americans, whitewashed it, and shared it with the world as if it was theirs. This occurred as they, “Removed the African American influences on the movement styles that they considered lascivious because they were loosely limbed. They emphasized the uprightness of the torso to be more in keeping with the European tradition” (George-Graves). Not only did these people steal traditional dance styles from African Americans, they failed to give proper …show more content…
This represents how film media in the United States took inspiration from native countries, “americanized” the style, and performed it themselves, without representation of the people who brought it here. If I were to explain the relationship between dance and popular culture to my mother, I would begin by expressing how popular culture is an outlet where people learn new dance styles. It has been an influence on Americans since the early 1900s, and is how the United States learned new dance trends and fads. Although credit is given to popular culture for initiating new dance trends and styles in the United States, it has failed to give appropriate representation to the cultures and people who brought these dances here. I would then express to her how the leaders in film, musicals, Broadway, and ballroom took these dance style ideas from African American and Latinx communities, and made them extremely popular in the United States. For example, Irene and Vernon Castle were major ballroom influencers during their time, but stole traditional dances from African Americans. They altered them to fit a European standard and spread it around as if they created the
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