Pine Bluff’s Cakewalk Dances
- Ninfa O. Barnard
- Jul 9
- 3 min read
The cakewalk was a mid-19th century dance originally performed at get-togethers by the enslaved on Southern plantations. During this height of the cakewalk’s popularity, Pine Bluff held its very own cakewalk competitions in 1891 and 1898.
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The cakewalk was originally known as the "prize walk," because the prize was an elaborately decorated cake. The cakewalk was a grand promenade-style dance, where couples would take turns performing, and the most skilled couple would then literally "take the cake."
During a cakewalk dance, couples stood in a formal square with men on the inside as they danced around the ballroom. According to Richard Kislan, author of The Musical: A Look at the American Musical Theater, the steps included "a high-leg prance with a backward tilt of the head, shoulders, and upper torso."
In his 1912 novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, African American author James Weldon Johnson describes a cakewalk his character attends during the Reconstruction era, "Then the floor was cleared for the cake-walk. A half-dozen guests from some of the hotels took seats on the stage to act as judges, and twelve or fourteen couples began to walk for a sure enough, highly decorated cake, which was in plain evidence. The spectators crowded about the space reserved for the contestants and watched them with interest and excitement. The couples did not walk round in a circle, but in a square, with the men on the inside. The fine points to be considered were the bearing of the men, the precision with which they turned the corners, the grace of the women, and the ease with which they swung around the pivots. The men walked with stately and soldierly steps, and the women with considerable grace."
Nonetheless, the cakewalk was more than a recreational dance. The dancers would dress up in their finest clothes and parody the mannerisms and dances of the white Southern elite. Though the cakewalk was directly inspired by the European-inspired Grand March, the enslaved dancers added twists, shuffles, high kicks, and other moves from African dances, making the cakewalk distinctly African American.
The cakewalks were even encouraged and performed for the entertainment of slaveholders because they failed to realize the dance satirized their behavior. According to the ragtime musician Shepard Edmonds, who described the stories of his formerly enslaved parents, "They did a take-off on the high manners of the white folks in the 'big-house,' but their masters, who gathered around to watch the fun, missed the point."
Minstrel shows popularized the cakewalk in the 1870s. In 1892, local cakewalk championships were being held in New York's Madison Square Garden as the dance had become deeply ingrained in American popular culture. The dance was even exported to Europe where it was performed at the Paris World's Fair in 1889. As cakewalk dances became more popular, they gave rise to their own musical style, an early forerunner of ragtime music. With its increased popularity, the cakewalk became a crossover hit performed by black and white performers and audiences alike. It even gave rise to popular colloquialisms like “take the cake” and “cakewalk.”
During the height of the dance’s popularity, Pine Bluff held its very own cakewalks. In 1891, the Ne Plus Ultra Club in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, held a cakewalk, which featured more than 25 couples, as part of a benefit for the community's brand-new African Methodist Episcopal Church. The winning couple was lauded as “being the most graceful walking couple in the march.” The cakewalk also raised $115 (about $4,454.03 today) towards the church’s $30,000 (about $1,161,921.69 today) building cost.
In April 1898, a state cakewalk contest was held in Pine Bluff’s opera house. The first-place dancers from Hot Springs received $25 (about $968.27 today) and the cake; second place received $15 (about $580.96 today); third place received $10 (about $387.31 today); and fourth place received $5 (about $193.65 today). According to the Arkansas Democrat, a large crowd pronounced it a grand success.
In March 1898, the colored society held a cakewalk at Knox’s hall for the benefit of the Iron Clad Club. The cakewalk was attended by a large crowd of black and white spectators, who pronounced it a splendid success, as well.
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Written by: Ninfa O. Barnard
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