It's the middle of the night. While most of Miami is sleeping, Casanovas, the area's most electric disco, has just received its wake-up call. Attractive young women teeter across the dance floor in vertiginous high heels, their hourglass figures accentuated by off-the-shoulder Lycra tops and tight leather micromini-skirts. Handsome, heavily cologned men in open-neck shirts keep the ladies under close observation, hoping to spot the sideways glance and quick nod that signify a turn on the floor.
Visual signals are everything: hard-pounding loudspeakers woof and tweet to the strains of Tito Puente, Hansel y Raul and Willie Colon. The songs are...