Cuba's 19th Century Danzon Musical Form Dies at Home But Endures in Mexico Tim Johnson - McClatchy Newspapers
go to original July 2, 2013

Danzón dancers in León, Guanajuato, Mexico (wikimedia)

MEXICO CITY - Every Saturday of the year, hundreds of couples converge on a shady park in this capital to embrace one another in the slow-moving, genteel dance known as the danzon.

Many of the men appear transported from the 1930s and 1940s – in zoot suits with loose-fitting jackets and high-waist tapered pants. Fedoras, graced with a lone feather, top off the retro look.

The women balance on high heels, waving fans to shoo away the heat.

Danzon lives on in corners of Mexico even though it has virtually died out in Cuba, where it evolved in the 19th century from dances and rhythms originating in Europe and Africa centuries earlier.

It is a precise, elegant dance, with the men leading in a three-step movement, dipping and swirling their partners in delicate but restrained style.

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