Cake Walk (1903)

Five African Americansthree men and two womenperform a cakewalk a dance featuring fancy strutting that was named after the prize awarded in the original contests The dancers wear rather formal attire with the men in dark suits and black tie and the women in fulllength highcollared dark dresses one woman carries a small American flag As they step in place against a light background the center maleholding up a top hat and twirling a canemoves toward the camera and briefly performs some fancy steps As he moves back the man at the left end of the line does a quick twirling step and links arms with his partner The other two dancers also pair off as the center male leads them in a strutting movement around the stage When they return to the original line all five step towards the camera with the center man slightly ahead of the others The film ends just as they stop the cakewalk