Danza is the evolutionary step between contradanza and danzón — Cuba's first true couple's dance, more intimate and more African in character than the European formations it replaced.
The Danza developed through the 1840s–1870s as Cuban composers simplified the contradanza into shorter, more intimate pieces designed specifically for two people dancing together. It was the dominant salon form in Havana and Matanzas before danzón took over in 1879.
Danza was a significant departure from contradanza:
This was the habanera rhythm asserting itself more strongly through the body of the dancer.
The danza had two sections — an introductory A section and a more rhythmically active B section — that the couple danced through continuously without stopping. This was the predecessor of danzón's more elaborate multi-section structure.
Compositionally, the piano danzas of Ignacio Cervantes are considered masterworks — technically sophisticated pieces that blend European classical technique with Cuban rhythmic life.
Like the contradanza, the danza is primarily of historical interest today — it is not danced socially. It appears in musicological research, concert performances of Cervantes' piano danzas, and folk cultural contexts. Its living legacy is in everything that came after it: danzón, son, and the entire Cuban dance lineage.