"Danza de los Duendes" was composed for Argentina's Orquesta Sinfónica de Tucumán, whose music director, Eduardo Alonso-Crespo, led the world premiere in 1992, a month apart from the Pittsburgh Symhony Orchestra's North American premiere with conductor Kirk Muspratt. The work's title—an afterthought suggested by the composer's student—refers to the malicious goblin-like creatures (los duendes) of South American folklore.

In 1996 Galbraith revised the work and re-scored it as a wind symphony. The new "Danza" became her most popular piece and is performed frequently by concert bands in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. In 1998 "Danza de los Duendes" appeared as the opening track on Klavier Records' celebrated CD, "Dream Catchers", in a performance by the world-renouned North Texas Wind Sympony led by Eugene Corporon. In 2003 the composer transposed the work back to orchestral form.

"Danza de los Duendes" begins with an introductory section that makes use of high woodwind textures and percussion. The introduction closes with falling runs into a quiet pulse in the clarinets. The main theme is then stated in the four trumpets. It is answered by various instruments and eventually is stated by the whole ensemble in an explosive climax, which evolves into a repeated quarter note octave in the upper winds and large fortissimo chords in the brass. The development section makes use of the percussion and piano as background texture over which lyrical melodies are stated in the woodwinds. The section closes with the loud repeated quarter note octave, which decrescendos into a single quarter note pulse in the bass clarinet. The piano enters very quietly as accompaniment for soft and lush brass chords. The bass clarinet again enters with a pulsating rhythm. Ideas are gradually layered on top leading to a rousing, dramatic re-statement of the main theme, which closes the piece. — N.G.