Danzón, a type of synchronized, stylized ballroom dance with emphatic pauses and a definitive romantic air performed to slow Latin rhythms, first began in Cuba, rooted in colonial times and fused from a blend of habanera two-step, European waltz and African cadence.
But in Mexico, it has been a vital part of urban culture for more than two centuries, especially in Veracruz, Oaxaca and Mexico City, where every weekend hundreds of danzón enthusiasts gather in plazas and salons to show off their moves, decked out in elaborate wardrobes reminiscent of the 1940s.