| "#FF9900" The
Walk Around |
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The Walk Around or General Ruckus as it was occasionally known
was done in the rural southern states as early as the 1860's.
These "Walkers" would walk a straight line and balance
buckets of water on their heads as it was used earlier to help
pass the time in the fields, whereas the buckets would be filled
with crops. An earlier dance known as the Ring Shout contributed
to the birth of the Walk-Around and it's use in the Minstrel Shows
of the time which made the ring shout a secular parody.
Minstrelsy was the most popular form of entertainment in America
from 1845-1900. When used in the Minstrel shows the entire cast
would come on stage and partake in the Walk Around, singing and
dancing for the closing number called the "afterpiece"
in the show, while others would start aand end the show with it.
Because of the use of the Walk Around in the Minstrel shows, it
received wide spread popularity and influenced many dances to
come.
The Breakdown and Walk Around was one of the main
sources of the "Chalk Line Walk" (1880s) which
later became the "Cakewalk",
a comic exaggeration of the the plantation owners dances or promenades
of the time. Competition Cakewalk dancers were known as "Walkers"
and these contests grew very big.
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