NEW TANGO SHOW: SIZZLES AND SPUTTERS
                                              By Paul Hertelendy
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
                                                                 Week of May 11-18, 2002
                                                                  Vol. 4, No. 81
        The headliners are a superannuated bore, and the show is an eclectic hodge-podge of dance styles from all over.
        But the women in "Malambo" are a knockout, the tangos are supremely sexy, and the all-dance show in its best moments is a dazzle of high-kicked stiletto heels that whoosh by the partner's heads like the sharp horns in a bullfight.
        "Malambo" can never figure out quite where it's going. It's already come all the way from Buenos Aires with its world premiere production at the intimate Theatre on the Square. The all-Argentinian cast loses its thrust in veering far away from its "Forever Tango" (1990) focus as established by the director-creator of both spectacles, Luis Bravo.
        Tally up the two lead male dancers past their prime (Juan Saavedra in malambo, Carlos Gavito in tango) and the passionate love-ballad tenor (Carlos Morel) who may never have had one, and you get a show with more ballast than bandoneons.
        Lisandro Adrover's 10-member band is a good one though, boasting three bandoneons--those smaller cousins of the button accordion---plus strings and piano, and a lot of rhythmically accented pizzazz essential to tango.
        Extraordinary and alluring Latin women populate the show, from the Marilyn Monroe impersonator who dances ballet barefoot (Eva Lucero) to a big array of tight-clinging tango dancers with countless curves, and tight-clinging skirts slit way up to the part in the hair. The best of the dazzling tango group was Valentina Villaroel, an agile leaper who sets fire to the stage whirling about with Claudio Gonzalez to open the second half.
        Both sides of tango are on display: The erotic bordello origins, and the later high-society respectability it attained in the Northern Hemisphere after World War One. The most striking (and potentially hazardous) maneuver is a lightning-quick thrust of leg between the partner's, which if ill-aimed could do serious damage and greatly reduce the birth rate.
        "Malambo" broadens out to cover the tango forerunner malanga, plus the gauchos' all-male dance called malambo. It broadened to extremes with afterthoughts: the ballet dancer, a flamenco trio, a recreation of an Indian ritual, and even a knife fight by two downtown gangs (to the improbable cello-concerto music of Shostakovich!!!). Illuminating this mishmash was the overriding brilliance of the lighting design done by---you guessed it---Luis Bravo himself.
        The choreography was a communal activity by the dancers themselves.
       "Malambo," a two-hour, 20-minute show with one intermission, featuring 21 dancers from Argentina and live band. Theatre on the Square, 450 Post St., San Francisco. Running through June 16. For info: (415) 433-9500, or on-line.
        ©Paul Hertelendy 2002
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        Paul Hertelendy has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into recordings by local artists, books (by authors of the region) and theater as well.
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