Forever Tango.

FOREVER TANGO SHUBERT THEATRE, NEW YORK, NY SEPTEMBER 28-NOVEMBER 19, 2004

Luis Bravo's Forever Tango is the most sophisticated, grown-up choreography and dancing on Broadway but for Twyla Tharp's shining Movin' Out. If the current production has about it an ever-so-slight whiff of world-weariness, isn't that appropriate? It has been touring internationally for nearly a decade. But it's forgivable. It's the tango, after all, that marvelous form that originated in the slums and brothels of Buenos Aires in the late 1800s--the eternal dance of seduction, by turns tawdry and elegant, with its slinky movement and alternately elongated lines and slashing legs.

Aside from a few moments of group dancing, the evening comprises tangos of varying temperaments, performed by one couple after another (seven in all) and individually choreographed by the performers. Nevertheless, Forever Tango achieves the overall feeling of an ensemble work. A 10-piece orchestra backs the dancers, including four bandoneons, those sorrowful-sounding, accordion-like instruments that cry out tire anguish and energy of tire tango. Curiously, the music is entirely uncredited, but at least some of it sounds like that of the late, great tango composer Astor Piazzolla. Occasional songs by soulful singer Miguel Velazquez punctuate the dancing and the orchestral numbers.

This is a cadre of spectacularly solid performers, with the women in deathdefying heels and often wearing black, the color of tango. Amidst the strut and slink and glitter, one couple stands out, Carlos Vera and Laura Marcarie. In tango, as in ballet, the man's body frames the woman's, and Vera's solidity--almost bulkiness--and blunt features illuminate Marcarie's extraordinary combination of earthiness and delicacy. Together, in "La Mariposa" and "Quejas de Bandoneon," the two achieve a smooth, almost floating quality to their work, a refinement and subtlety not seen elsewhere on the stage. Marcarie communicates a romantic sense rather than the flash and athletic sensuality featured prominently throughout the evening. She is the production's profound gift, her dancing enhanced by the pleasing curves of her slightly rounded body, and by her face, which suggests simultaneously purity and duende, the mystery and darkness of another dance form, flamenco.

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