Margarita Rios Garza was 20, and a recent mom to my oldest brother, when they moved in 1946 from her hometown of El Paso to San Antonio, near my dad's birthplace. El Paso is a world unto itself, and so South Texas music and culture was a curiosity for her. She talks about going to clubs and being highly amused by the couples dancing al estilo tacuachito. Tacuache is Spanish for possum, and folklore is that's what the couples resembled as they clenched tightly and scurried quickly across the dance floor to rancheras and polkas. She still lives in San Antonio, and dancing Tejanos still make her laugh. (This one is by the legendary Little Joe y La Familia.)
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