DANCE REVIEW : ‘Ritmo Tango’ Makes No False Moves at the Fountain

Wearing a gown of goldand-black chain-link sequins with huge stars cut out over her hips, Loreen Arbus stalks the stage of the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood as an icon of the Argentine tango.

Her dapper partner, Alberto Toledano, matches her intimidating Buenos Aires hauteur as he pilots her through dismayingly intricate and unpredictable kick-and-turn choreography that only a fool would confuse with the simplistic 1-2-3-slide routines that stateside ballroom dancers perform in place of authentic tango footwork.

Arbus and Toledano may be Americans, but they got the high-velocity moves, the fusion of snobbish and streetwise attitude, the irresistibly disreputable glamour of tango on loan from a host of major teachers and predecessors down Argentine way. Their “Ritmo Tango” revue, seen Sunday, not only showcases their terrific skill and versatility, but also introduces two of their students, a fine band and an appropriately intense singer of the passionate-and-doomed tango songbook.

Taped music accompanies some of the dancing--regrettable, because guitarist Dino Durand, keyboard player Carlos Boedo and bandonion master Mario Vasquez grow hotter and tighter the more they perform. Ruben Di Grazia appears periodically to sing (and sometimes speak) highly theatrical tango ballads--none more impressively rendered than “El Dia Que Me Quieras” by Carlos Garde and Alfredo Le Pera

Tango students Cynthia Wraspir and Karlo Abouroumieh look promising enough in their brief duet in the first act, and they even manage to survive the program’s major miscalculation: a feverish dance-drama involving sex, money, death and ballroom deportment.

Tipping their hats to each other--and to tango tradition--Abouroumieh and Toledano also team up for a memorably sly, deadpan man-to-man tango.

* “Ritmo Tango” at the Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Hollywood. (213) 663-1525. Tickets $15. March 23 and 26 only, 8 p.m.