Reading Comprehension

PT125 · S1 · P3 · Q19 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.

19.

The passage provides sufficient information to answer which one of the following questions?

Correct
What were some of the
Why this is right
The final sentence of the first paragraph says, the cakewalk retained features characteristic of African dance forms, such as gliding steps and an emphasis on improvisation. So "gliding steps" and "emphasis on improv" are two attributes that were preserved.
Skill tested: Five Questions · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
78% picked this
Who was the first performer
Too Strong: first
Aida was the person most responsible for popularizing the cakewalk, but the passage never says that she was the very first performer to dance it professionally. It also would be WAY too easy a question if the correct answer were just the main character of the passage.
2% picked this
What is an aspect of
Out of Scope
Out of Scope: other N.A. dance forms "North America" is only mentioned in the 2nd paragraph, and the only thing said about it is: the cakewalk became one of the first cultural forms to cross the racial divide in North America. So we never hear about any North American dance forms or hear how cakewalk influenced them.
2% picked this
What features were added to
Out of Scope: added to parodies
The only information we get about parodies is the final sentence of the 2nd paragraph: by the end of the 19th, the cakewalk was itself being parodied by European American stage performers, and these parodies in turn helped shape subsequent versions of the cakewalk. So the passage doesn't enlighten us about any features the parodies added. Some of us may have been confused because earlier in the 2nd paragraph they talked about the "grandiloquent, high-kicking walk" being a parody of the dances at slave owners' balls. But that was a feature of the original cakewalk, not a feature that got added in parodies of the cakewalk near the end of the 19th century.
17% picked this
For about how many years
Out of Scope: longevity of popularity
The passage gives us no information about how long the popularity of the cakewalk lasted.
0% picked this

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