Miracle Theatre Group is offering a FREE danzón class this winter. What is danzón? Marketing Assistant Susy Chávez prepared this brief background with a couple video examples too ...
Although originally from Cuba, danzón reached its peak in Mexico City’s roaring twenties when clubs like the famous Salón México were in full swing. A long way from its roots in 16th century English and later French contredanse, where parallel lines of boy-girl were popular amongst the aristrocacy, the dance format was dramatically transformed in 19th century Cuba. It was in Cuba where the separate boy-girl lines of dancers were broken up into individual pairs and were musicians at dance halls, who were primarily of African descent, introduced the timbales (Afro-Cuban drums) and the güiro. Described as “grotesque” by newspapers of the time, the changes initially cause an uproar within Cuban upper-class society of the 1830s. Despite initial reactions, danzón caught on amongst all of Cuban society. It eventually entered Mexico, where it surpassed its popularity in Cuba, via trading ships to the Yucatán. The dance-form took root in the port city of Veracruz where it is still practiced every weekend in the Plaza de Armas.
While Cuban danzón bands, dansoneras, are characterized by a variety of wind instruments accompanied by the piano, flute, violins and Cuban percussion, in Mexico dansonera bands sped up the rhythm a bit and have also included saxophones. Something that has not changed is danzón's particular choreography, those lulls, rest periods, interspersed by precise footwork. Specifically introduced early on, these rest periods were an opportunity for the couples in the dance floor to get to know each other, which explains the initial controversy it cause in Cuban dance floors and why it might have become such a popular dance form.
Today, although no longer at its height in popularity, one can still find danzón in public plazas in southern Mexico. The bewitching rhythm of the dansoneras is hard to resist and one can often find serious danzoneros immaculately dressed in coordinated pachuco-like styles, local aficionados, as well as tourists all swaying to the sounds of nereida ...
... or rigoletito ...
Ready to take on this beautiful enchanting dance? The Miracle will be holding a FREE, limited-space, 8-week danzón class that will take you through this wonderful art-form. Come meet the instructor Kenya Hyde-Marquez, and other dansoneros Tuesday Feb. 14 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Don’t have a partner? No worries! Sign up! And if you do have a partner, what better way to spend Valentine’s day than dancing! For more information or to sign up for the class please contact Susy at 503-236-7253 ext. 122 or send your full name and phone number to susy@milagro.org.
(You can find out more about the instructor Kenya Hyde-Marquez in a previous blog post or from Univisión Portland).
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