Walkaround

The dance was competitive in nature. At the start of the music, typically a fast dance song in ²
₄ or ⁴
₄ time, the dancers (who were already seated in a semicircle) stood and began clapping and slapping themselves in time ("patting Juba"). One dancer or a couple then moved downstage to the focal point of the semicircle and performed a set of elaborate dance steps, lasting for about 16 bars. Once these dancers retreated back to the semicircle, another dancer or pair of dancers took a turn. This repeated until all dancers had soloed. Finally, all the dancers broke ranks and danced the minstrel show into an intermission. Compare with dance jamming.

Nineteenth century commentators claimed that the walkaround descended from the communal dances of African plantation slaves, dances which themselves hearkened back to religious West African dances. Modern scholars still hold this to be mostly true, claiming that the walkaround was a parody of the ring shout, a religious slave dance. The popularity of walkarounds in minstrelsy allowed the style to influence later dances, as well.

In later years, the cakewalk became integrated into the walkaround, and over time the two terms became interchangeable. The cakewalk portion of the dance was typically performed by men in drag.