A person who performs or dances the cakewalk, or someone who accomplishes something easily.
From 'cakewalk' + '-er' (one who does something). The term refers both to dancers of the cakewalk and, figuratively, to people who find tasks effortless.
A 'cakewalker' is someone who makes hard things look easy, derived from a dance that itself was easy to perform compared to ballet, making it doubly fitting as a metaphor for effortlessness.
Cakewalker refers to performers of the cakewalk tradition. When commercialized and whitewashed in popular culture, the term lost attribution to Black performers who created and perfected the form as both entertainment and subtle resistance.
Use with historical acknowledgment: specify the Black performative tradition and the specific artists/communities involved. Avoid generic use that erases the form's origins and creative authorship.
["Black cakewalk performer (historical specificity)","satirical performance artist","cakewalk dancer/choreographer"]
Black performers developed cakewalk as sophisticated theatrical and choreographic art; commercial adoption by white entertainment industry systematically erased performer names, origins, and the form's critical social purpose.
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