Quadrille and cakewalk

Practice · c. 1850-1910 · Sud des États-Unis, Paris · Roots and blues

A competition dance of Southern plantations, where a cake was given to the best walkers, fed by quadrilles and the Grand March that came from Europe. It became a minstrel-show number, then a Paris craze around 1902, and gave its syncopated rhythms to ragtime. Debussy imitates it in Golliwogg's Cake-walk (1908). Jelly Roll Morton said Tiger Rag was originally a quadrille.

What is still debated

The quadrille came from Europe; the idea that it was "born at the death of Robespierre" is a simplification (the French contredanse dates from the 18th century). What the cakewalk meant, parody of the masters or dance of pride, is still debated by historians.

Where it comes from

• Afro-diasporic roots

What it gave rise to or influenced

• Ragtime
• New Orleans

Artists

• Sousa's Band (1892–1931, orchestre d'harmonie)
• Claude Debussy (1862–1918, piano (compositeur))

Tracks to start with

• Smoky Mokes — Vess Ossman (1899)
• Honolulu Cake Walk — Vess Ossman (1899)
• Hu-la Hu-la Cake Walk — Sousa's Band (1901)
• At a Georgia Camp Meeting — Sousa's Band (1902)
• Golliwogg's Cake-walk — Claude Debussy (1908)

Sources

• EN : Cakewalk
• EN : Quadrille
• EN : Children's Corner

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