Reading Comprehension

PT125 · S1 · P3 · Q14 Aida Overton Walker

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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.

Topic

Aida Overton Walker and the evolution and popularization of the cakewalk dance

Framework

Highlight Noteworthy

Main Point

Aida Overton Walker’s ability to adapt the cakewalk’s highly layered, parody-rich roots to fit the tastes of diverse audiences allowed her to popularize it and bridge the racial divide in early 20th-century America. ( — start of P4)

P1: Origins and African Roots of the Cakewalk

This paragraph introduces Aida Overton Walker and explains how the cakewalk dance originated within enslaved African American communities, drawing on African dance traditions that featured improvisation and certain movement styles.

P2: Blending and Satire—African Meets European Influence

Here, we learn that the cakewalk picked up elements from European dances but did so in a satirical way—mocking the dances and manners of slave owners. Ironically, these European-influenced features helped the cakewalk become popular among white Americans, and then whites later parodied the cakewalk itself.

P3: Cakewalk’s Multi-layered Evolution and Mass Appeal

The paragraph discusses how the layered, ever-evolving nature of the cakewalk (including all the parody elements) made it especially appealing during a time of major social changes in the U.S. Art that could be “many things to many people” had the best shot at popularity.

14.

The author describes the socioeconomic flux of the turn-of-the-century United States in the third paragraph primarily in order to

  1. argue that the cakewalk could

    Too Strong: only

    The author is definitely suggesting that it was the right sort of cultural product for the right sort of time. But it's too strong to say that the author was suggesting that the cakewalk could only be popular in a time of socioeconomic flux.

    2% picked this

  2. detail the social context that

    Unsupported Causal Relationship

    The passage is only saying that given how the cultural landscape was being reshaped by socioeconomic flux, an art form would need to be very versatile to thrive. But the passage never suggested that the performers of the cakewalk sensed that an art form would need to be many things to many people due to this flux, and then because of that, chose to fuse African and European dance forms. The passage makes it seem like the dance came together on its own, and it just happened to be right place / right time for the societal backdrop of its era, which is why it blew up in popularity.

    10% picked this

  3. identify the target of the

    Out of Scope: parodying flux

    This answer is trying to bait people in with wording from the previous sentence (since that is the formula for most correct answers on Local Purpose). But it's saying something the passage never implied: people were parodying the socioeconomic flux? We heard that slaves were parodying aristocrats, and then European American stage performers were then parodying the cakewalk.

    7% picked this

  4. Correct

    indicate why a particular cultural

    Why this is right

    The socioeconomic flux is a particular cultural environment. The previous sentence told us that the cakewalk was able to attract its wide audience by being a multi-layered cultural phenomenon. In the cultural environment of socioeconomic flux, an art form had to be capable of being many things to many people in order to appeal to a large audience. So the cakewalk was a multi-layered cultural product at a time that was ripe for an art form that was capable of being many things to many people.

    Skill tested: Local Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    69% picked this

  5. explain why European American parodies

    Unrelated: European parodies

    The passage is not talking about European American parodies of the cakewalk in the 3rd paragraph. Those are briefly referenced at the end of the 2nd, but there's no spillover into the 3rd paragraph. The 3rd paragraph is talking about the cakewalk overall, including both the parodic layers introduced by slaves and those introduced by European Americans.

    12% picked this

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