Aida Overton Walker (1880–1914), One of The Most Widely Acclaimed GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

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. The cakewalk was originally developed prior to the United States Civil War by African Americans, for whom dance was a means of maintaining cultural links within a slave society. It was based on traditional West African ceremonial dances, and like many other African American dances, it retained features characteristic of African dance forms, such as gliding steps and an emphasis on improvisation.

To this African-derived foundation, the cakewalk added certain elements from European dances: where African dances feature flexible body postures, large groups and separate-sex dancing, the cakewalk developed into a high-kicking walk performed by a procession of couples. Ironically, while these modifications later enabled the cakewalk to appeal to European Americans and become one of the first cultural forms to cross the racial divide in North America, they were originally introduced with satiric intent. Slaves performed the grandiloquent walks in order to parody the processional dances performed at slave owners’ balls and, in general, the self-important manners of slave owners. To add a further irony, by the end of the nineteenth century, the cakewalk was itself being parodied by European American stage performers, and these parodies in turn helped shape subsequent versions of the cakewalk.

While this complex evolution meant that the cakewalk was not a simple cultural phenomenon— one scholar has characterized this layering of parody upon parody with the phrase “mimetic vertigo”—it is in fact, what enabled the dance to attract its wide audience. In the cultural and socioeconomic flux of the turn-of-the-century United States, where industrialization, urbanization, mass immigration, and rapid social mobility all reshaped the cultural landscape, an art form had to be capable of being many things to many people in order to appeal to a large audience.

Walker’s remarkable success at popularizing the cakewalk across otherwise relatively rigid racial boundaries rested on her ability to address within her interpretation of it the varying and sometimes conflicting demands placed on the dance. Middle- class African Americans, for example, often denounced the cakewalk as disreputable, a complaint reinforced by the parodies circulating at the time. Walker won over this audience by refining the cakewalk and emphasizing its fundamental grace. Meanwhile, because middle- and upper-class European Americans often felt threatened by the tremendous cultural flux around them, they prized what they regarded as authentic art forms as bastions of stability; much of Walker’s success with this audience derived from her distillation of what was widely acclaimed as the most authentic cakewalk. Finally, Walker was able to gain the admiration of many newly rich industrialists and financiers, who found in the grand flourishes of her version of the cakewalk a fitting vehicle for celebrating their newfound social rank.

Aida Overton Walker (1880–1914), one of the most widely acclaimed African American performers of the early twentieth century- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

1. Walker, who was especially well known for her success in choreographing, performing, and teaching the cakewalk, was one of the most widely recognized African American performers of the early twentieth century.
2. In spite of the disparate influences that shaped the cakewalk, Walker was able to give the dance broad appeal because she distilled what was regarded as the most authentic version in an era that valued authenticity highly.
3. Walker popularized the cakewalk by capitalizing on the complex cultural mix that had developed from the dance’s original blend of satire and cultural preservation, together with the effects of later parodies.
4. Whereas other versions of the cakewalk circulating at the beginning of the twentieth century were primarily parodic in nature, the version popularized by Walker combined both satire and cultural preservation.
5. Because Walker was able to recognize and preserve the characteristics of the cakewalk as African Americans originally performed it, it became the first popular art form to cross the racial divide in the United States.

2. The passage asserts which one of the following about the cakewalk?

1. It was largely unknown outside African American culture until Walker popularized it.
2. It was mainly a folk dance, and Walker became one of only a handful of people to perform it professionally.
3. Its performance as parody became uncommon as a result of Walker’s popularization of its authentic form.
4. Its West African origins became commonly known as a result of Walker’s work.
5. It was one of the first cultural forms to cross racial lines in the United States.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

1. Because of the broad appeal of humour, satiric art forms are often among the first to cross racial or cultural divisions.
2. The interactions between African American and European American cultural forms often result in what is appropriately characterized as “mimetic vertigo.”
3. Middle-class European Americans who valued the cakewalk’s authenticity subsequently came to admire other African American dances for the same reason.
4. Because of the influence of African dance forms, some popular dances that later emerged in the United States featured separate-sex dancing.
5. Some of Walker’s admirers were attracted to her version of the cakewalk as a means for bolstering their social identities.

4. 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 have become popular only in such complex social circumstances
2. detail the social context that prompted performers of the cakewalk to fuse African and European dance forms
3. identify the target of the overlapping parodic layers that characterized the cakewalk
4. indicate why a particular cultural environment was especially favorable for the success of the cakewalk
5. explain why European American parodies of the cakewalk were able to reach wide audiences

5. Which one of the following is most analogous to the author's account in the second paragraph of how the cakewalk came to appeal to European Americans?

1. Satirical versions of popular music songs are frequently more popular than the songs they parody.
2. A style of popular music grows in popularity among young listeners because it parodies the musical styles admired by older listeners.
3. A style of music becomes admired among popular music's audience in part because of elements that were introduced in order to parody popular music.
4. A once popular style of music wins back its audience by incorporating elements of the style of music that is currently most popular.
5. After popular music begins to appropriate elements of a traditional style of music, interest in that traditional music increases.

6. The passage most strongly suggests that the author would be likely to agree with which one of the following statements about Walker's significance in the history of the cakewalk?

1. Walker broadened the cakewalk's appeal by highlighting elements that were already present in the dance.
2. Walker's version of the cakewalk appealed to larger audiences than previous versions did because she accentuated its satiric dimension.
3. Walker popularized the cakewalk by choreographing various alternative interpretations of it, each tailored to the interests of a different cultural group.
4. Walker added a "mimetic vertigo" to the cakewalk by inserting imitations of other performers' cakewalking into her dance routines.
5. Walker revitalized the cakewalk by disentangling its complex admixture of African and European elements

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

1. What were some of the attributes of African dance forms that were preserved in the cakewalk?
2. Who was the first performer to dance the cakewalk professionally?
3. What is an aspect of the cakewalk that was preserved in other North American dance forms?
4. What features were added to the original cakewalk by the stage parodies circulating at the end of the nineteenth century?
5. For about how many years into the twentieth century did the cakewalk remain widely popular?

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