In Giro's, a plushy nightspot in Mexico City, the band beat out a rumba rhythm. Americanos were on their feet almost before the Mexicans. Rotund Leon Henderson and his smartly tailored brunette wife, vacationing in Mexico, listened to a few frenzied beats, then let themselves go.*
The Americans and Mexicans were doing La Bamba, the latest dance to heat up Mexico City's cool nights. Just a few months ago La Bamba steamed up to the higher altitudes from Veracruz, where horsemen and fishing peasants, known as jarochos, have danced it for 400 years. To a jarocho, La Bamba is a studied love...