Other names

Contradanza Criolla, Danza, Danza Criolla, Cuban Contradanza

Time of founding

1651 год

Key release

Сборник John Playford - The English Dancing Master

Other founders

John Playford

Scheme of nascence

Folk Music + Son Cubano + народные английские и французкие танцы + латиноамериканские музыкальные формы + Contradanza

Description

Is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. In Cuba during the 19th century, it became an important genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African rhythm pattern and the first Cuban dance to gain international popularity, the progenitor of danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha, with a characteristic "habanera rhythm" and sung lyrics. Outside Cuba, the Cuban contradanza became known as the habanera – the dance of Havana – and that name was adopted in Cuba itself subsequent to its international popularity in the later 19th century, though it was never so called by the people who created it.