The present work investigates the social construct process of the maxixe, a dance of intense and sensual movements that took part of cariocas everyday life between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Supported by periodicals, songs, as well as theatrical plays, the case studies analyzed illustrate how the dance was fashioned in a dynamic way in dialogue with both the Atlantic World and the social conflicts of a transforming Rio de Janeiro. Based on the dance experience of poor, black, and mixed workers, the maxixe had its meaning strategically constructed by different characters that found in the dance a polysemic object of dispute and negotiation on the tensions between race and nationality imposed by the end of slavery.