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Danzon: The National Dance of Cuba
Maylenis and Cheri: Bringing the history and shares of Cuban folkloric dance to you here!

This article is another share from my dance teacher and close friend, Maylenis Ortega.  She will be sharing more with us on the blog of her vast knowledge of the history and practice of the dances in Cuba.  She writes in Spanish, and I translate it for you.  There is a spanish version as well for my spanish speaking readers.  Thanks Maylenis!  I love you! 

El Danzón, is considered the national dance of Cuba.  The musician Miguel Faílde from Matanzas is credited with it’s creation. El Danzón is a ballroom dance.  It is a social sharing and an opportunity for Cubans to be together and share in the music. El Danzón has as a unique feature within the Cuban dances that dance parties are altered with parts of rest.

It is considered our national dance because despite being criticized and rejected in its time, El Danzón gave way to the new Cuban society.  It was part of the triumph Cubans had over the elements of European forms, and gave birth to a dance with Cuban characteristics, as well as highlighting events political, social, patriotic, and commercial among others.

According to the experts,  this dance was connected to the insurrectionary struggle of 1895.   During the rest periods between dances,  people conversed, and shared information.  Also between couples and when the couples changed partners, they shared information between themselves.   The patriots used Danzón and the social dances to exchange messages of the revolutionary movement. 

The ladies covered their lips with the fan so that they could not lip read what they said, and in this way they carried messages from the mountains to the city and among the guerrillas without running the risk of being discovered.

It is a dance with a basic step, a stroll step and a lateral step, very similar to the steps of Son but very small, as if dancing on a brick. Today danzón festivals are held and studied in art schools and houses of culture, thus maintaining the tradition, transmitting it to new generations.  These videos are from FiDanza, a dance festival that happens every year in Trinidad, Cuba celebrating all the forms of dance that Cuba enjoys and has mastered.  

Espanol:

El Danzón, considerado nuestro baile nacional, cuyo creador es el músico matancero Miguel Faílde, es un baile de salón, de diversión y tiene como característica única dentro de los Bailes Cubanos que en el se alteran partes bailadas con partes de descanso.

Se considera nuestro baile nacional porque a pesar de ser criticado y rechazado en su época dió paso a la nueva sociedad cubana, triunfando éste sobre los elementos de las formas europeas, naciendo así un baile con características cubanas, además de destacarse a su vez en acontecimientos políticos, sociales, patrióticos, comerciales entre otros.

Algo muy curioso es q este baile se conectó con la lucha insurreccional del 1895, según los expertos en el descanso que se utilizaba para conversar entre parejas y hacer cambios entre éstas, los patriotas aprovechaban para intercambiar recados de el movimiento revolucionario, las señoras se tapaban con el abanico los labios para que no pudieran leer lo que decían, y de este modo se llevaban recados de las montañas a la ciudad y entre los guerrilleros sin correr el riesgo de ser descubiertos.

Es un baile con paso básico , paso de paseo y paso lateral, muy parecidos a los pasos de Son pero bien pequeños, como si se bailara encima de un ladrillo.

Hoy día se hacen festivales de danzón y se estudia en escuelas de arte y Casas de Cultura, manteniendo así la tradición, transmitiéndolo a las nuevas generaciones.


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