Watch Your Step: A History of African American Dancing: Volume 1

Author: Félix Lambert

Tome 1 focuses on the emergence of minstrel troupes and dances prior to 1900, like the Pasmala and Cakewalk, the evolution of touring troupes in the 1900s, like Williams and Walker and Black Patti, and look at the transition of these troupes towards the next generation with the Smart Set and similar toupes involving other dance crazes like the Slow Drag, Ball the Jack or Walking the Dog. The book concludes with the arrival of the two main events of the early 1920s: the jazz and blues recording boom and the stellar show Shuffle Along, both being major influences on the following decades.

ISBN: 978-1738105526