Dance review: Tango Buenos Aires’ 'Fire and Passion of Tango' at Segerstrom Center for the Arts

The Argentine troupe Tango Buenos Aires featured requisite slinking, slithering and strutting, as five couples hooked up, broke up and eventually reunited onstage Friday at the recently renamed Segerstrom Center for the Arts. But what the company didn’t offer in its show, “Fire and Passion of Tango” (repeating Saturday and Sunday), was any kind of sustained heat and ardor, sexy costumes, an inspired set or visionary direction and choreography.

Sure, the 10 dancers were technically skilled, providing fleeting moments of sizzle and virtuosity, but something’s amiss when bandoneón player Martin Sued receives the loudest applause. Seriously, the five-piece band, under Emilio Kauderer’s musical direction, cooked in works by tangomeister Astor Piazzolla and others, but the dancers often seemed unconnected to the sultry sounds.  

Beginning with the full company in unison mode, main dancer Cynthia Avila soon doffed her shoes and tacky red dress to reveal a teddy. Slipping into soft shoes, the soloist with a slight -- but spooky -- resemblance to Spider-Woman, executed a series of arabesques and jazz-like moves that could have escaped from TV’s, “So You Think You Can Dance.”  After re-dressing, she was joined by partner Demián García in a duet featuring sleek dips and whiplash turns before they made their way to a salon.

There, Maria Lujan Leopardi and Esteban Simon managed some emotional fervor and technical fireworks, with him holding her aloft as if she were a ship’s bow.  Too bad their costumes were lavender and beige, detracting from the inherent darkness of the dance.  On the flip side, the comedic coupling of Florencia Mendez and Pedro Zamin appealed with a series of deep splits imposed on a goofy-faced Mendez by her haplessly rubber-legged partner.

Trouble arrived when Avila, who entered weaving and brandishing a bottle, spotted Mauricio Celis entwined with Inés Cuesta. Celis’ one-arm lifts impressed, as did their unison kick-steps, driving Avila into the other girls’ arms, an intriguing but undeveloped concept.  Later, the five men also danced together, providing jolts of testosterone amid kneeling spins and sharp turns.

Because Susana Rojo’s choreography lacked depth, and because there was little sense of doomed love or angst (Buenos Aires is, purportedly, the psychoanalytic capital of the world), this proved to be tango lite.

-- Victoria Looseleaf

Tango Buenos Aires repeats at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa, Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. $16-$80.  (714) 556-2787. 

Photo: Cynthia Avila and Demian Garcia in Tango Buenos Aires. Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Carmen Piro]

Are you sure you and I were at the same show. First of all, this was not a Vegas show but a modern, artistic interpretation of a very old institution in Argentina. It was not supposed to be a Vegas type show with skin and exagerated glitter. And secondly, you must have been thinking of "Dancing with the Stars". It was supposed to be a cultural event!

[Jobe]

i just came back from this show in Santa fe NM It was amazing, absolutely nothing wrong with the performances, its not a vegas show.

[Dr. Ricardo Stram]

“Fire and Passion of Tango” ... ditto to Carmen Piro answer with comment:
Critics are important people. They inspire us to make efficient use of our time and energy ($).
We attended the same show last night at the Anderson Center, in Binghamton, NY.
We loved it for all the right reasons you did not. We sprung to our feet in appreciation for all the reasons you slammed them in your review (oh? you didn't think you slammed them? )
Be true to thy self and live by the motto of those that can, do. Those that can't, teach. Those that retire from teaching, administrate and those that have exhausted most avenues of a pro-bono life are critics when they are not cynics. Keep up the good work and we'll keep a light on for your lemmings.