Dora Dean and Charles Johnson are most well-known for introducing their version of the cake walk to white audiences.  They first performed the dance on stage in the Creole Show. The cakewalk had its origins in slavery when slaves would mimic the prancing and preening movements of white people at their dances. The dance they imitated with exaggerated bows and hat waves was called the promenade.  White minstrels performed it as a satire to make fun of poor blacks trying to imitate white manners.

     

      However, Dora Dean and her partner emerged on the scene with their exquisite version of the cakewalk which brought them immense fame.  Dean and Johnson left the Creole show to tour with the Orpheum Circuit and with Sheridan & Flynn’s city sports Co as the one black specialty act in an all-white company. They were the first black couple to perform on Broadway where they did an hour long comedy cakewalk skit .From around 1901 to 1908 Dora Dean and Johnson spent the majority of their time doing extensive tours in Europe in countries , such as Germany, England, France, Scotland, Austria , and Hungary.

 

      They performed their cakewalk among other acts of entertainment whilst looking like royalty, adorned in jewels and wearing extravigant garmets. They took on the title “The King and Queen of Colored Aristocracy”. In 1901 the duo introduced a flickered spotlight, which they referred to as a kinetoscope. They danced against a black background and the light picked up on the white accents on their outfits, creating the first strobe light.Dean experienced the most fame when she was in Europe. In 1902  Dora Dean posed in cakewalk fashion for a full – length portrait that German artist, Ernest Hellman painted. Hellman, who was one of Germany’s most prestigious  artists at the time,  was so desperate to paint her that he paid the entire team’s salary for two weeks.

 

       In 1904 Dean and Johnson topped the bill at Palace Theater in London. Throughout this time Dean experienced many more accomplishments, such as advertising. She was paid by the sweet caporal cigarette company to be the “sweet caporal girl” where they placed  her picture in their cigarette boxes because they felt she exuded charm.  While Johnson pioneered a sort of steel –toed tap shoe, Dean introduced the use of tan tights to show off her body in a tasteful fashion.  Dora Dean was either responsible for or apart of some of the largest innovations in show business.