‘DANCE PARK’ SERIES : FLORICANTO, LOLA MONTES

Forget the Floricanto Dance Theater’s misleading program notes about “the prehistoric world of the Aztecs” Sunday at the John Anson Ford Theater--and the unfortunate metallic hot pink and turquoise lame ritual costumes. Forget the “Deer Dance,” too, with the soloist struggling to keep his antlered headdress from falling off.

This local Mexican folk group only really got going later on, with the lusty, accomplished playing of a nine-member mariachi band. Then the company proceeded to win back its lost credibility with splendid dance suites from Sinaloa and Jalisco.

Choreographed by Gema Sandoval, each featured seven couples. In kissing dances, sombrero-whomping dances, dances with the men rolling on the floor and the women jumping over them, Floricanto gave this last night of the “Dance Park” series a generous sampling of Latino energy, charm and sensuality.

Sharing the program, Lola Montes and her company (recently reviewed) offered an uneven and often wan survey of Spanish dance forms. The zesty “El Gato Montes” and springy “Jota” showed the members of the six-woman, three-man ensemble at its most disciplined and exciting, while Oscar Nieto’s “Soleares” provided the only first-rate heelwork.

Montes herself danced a moody, graceful “Cordoba” solo and the demanding extended trio, “The Loves of Pepita Jimenez.” But at this advanced stage of her distinguished career, she seemed to have more to teach us than to show us as a dancer; only in the breezy, “Caracoles” finale did she let herself go as a performer.

Along with the company’s taped accompaniments, Gino D’Auri and Chinin de Triana supplied their usual guitar and vocal excellence.