Walkaround

A walkaround (also spelled walk-around or walk around, or called a horay) was a dance from the blackface minstrel shows of the 19th century.

The walkaround often served as the finale to the first half of the minstrel show, the opening semicircle.

Minstrels also wrote songs called "walkarounds", which were specifically intended for this dance; "Dixie" is probably the most famous example.

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.

Modern scholars still hold this to be mostly true, claiming that the walkaround was a parody of the ring shout, a religious slave dance.

In the first part of the walkaround, a single dancer moved forward and performed while other dancers kept time. Detail from a playbill of the Bryant's Minstrels, 19 December 1859
To conclude the walkaround, the semicircle disbanded and the performers danced together. Detail from a playbill of the Bryant's Minstrels , 19 December 1859.