It's official. My first collection of home decor fabrics is in the works. I mailed out the artwork earlier this week. I'm so excited. And relieved. That last part of the design process is pretty grueling.
I can't show any sneak peeks till the copyright process is completed. I can let it slip that one of the prints is called Cakewalk. A great name with an even-better history. (There are no cake illustrations involved though.) I love learning about weird stuff.
Here's the skinny.
The cakewalk is a dance from the civil-war era. It was a tradition begun by slaves which developed into a parody of high society ballroom dancing and dandy mannerisms. Instead of taking offense, plantation owners encouraged the comedic dance. Many would host Sunday cakewalk contests to determine who could high-kick, saunter, curtsy, and tip his hat to best effect. The prize was usually a cake wrapped in cabbage (I'm guessing early Saran Wrap here). It is from this tradition comes the saying, "That takes the cake!"
The dance hit the mainstream around 1890 or so -- Victorian society was due for some silliness.
The high-stepping march of a band majorette stems from the cakewalk as well.
After discovering old-timey cakewalk footage on You Tube yesterday, Isaac and I took a stab at the dance ourselves. Right here in my office. Flag that one for the next church talent show, right? If you need a stress relief, I highly recommend it. Odds are you'll win a good belly laugh and burn off some cake while you're at it. Then again, you might need to be punch-drunk with exhaustion to fully understand.
