Danzón is one of the main influences of Son Cubano both in terms of dance as well as music which in turn influenced Salsa music and Casino. While influencing modern Cuban music and culture indirectly through genres like Son, Cha-Cha-Chá, Pachanga and Mambo many contemporary Cuban artists have also been directly inspired by Danzón and have incorporated some of its elements into their work. It is therefore a very important genre for any Casino dancer to get used to as it is one of the key historical genres that have influenced the salsa music and dance of today.
While the predecessor to Danzón in Cuba was called Danza which significantly influenced Son Cubano, the word Danzón is not a portmanteau of Danza and Son contrary to a common misconception regarding its etymology. Rather, the word Danzón is an amplification of the word Danza which is believed to reflect the fact that Danzones are usually longer in duration than Danzas.
Danzón is a a couple dance being slower than its predecessor Danza containing more Afro-Cuban elements. That being said, it lost some of its African elements as it became a symbol of Cuba after it gained independence and became “whitened” by the upper-class white elites who wanted to make the dance more socially acceptable. Thus a dance that was first viewed as utterly scandalous where races mixed easily was changed over time to become immensely popular by Cuba’s white population and at some points almost exclusively danced by the white upper class. An article in La Voz de Cuba published in November 1879 clearly shows the initial attitude towards this dance by the following statement: “Because I love my country, it hurts me to see danzón at gatherings of decent people. But if there is no way around it, if this blindness continues, then I beg of you, at least don’t play danzón and don’t dance it, when foreigners are around”.
