Music and Dance Reviews : Folclorico Without Salsa at Ambassador Auditorium

Mexican dance can be so gloriously passionate that a tame folkloric company might seem a contradiction in terms, if not a crime against nature. However, Silvia Lozano gets what she wants--and what she wants is clearly nouvelle Folclorico: light, agreeable and upscale. Folclorico without salsa.

Over the past 30 years, her ensemble has changed its name several times without altering its distinctively gracious, intelligent and sedate outlook. But if Lozano’s Ballet Folclorico Nacional de Mexico usually inspires no deep feeling, least of all in its dancers, the company brought to Ambassador Auditorium on Thursday valuable insights on Mexican regional style.

Crucial differences in stance, attack and weight gave the movement in the best suites the same individuality as the costumes. The variety and integrity of Mexican traditions became not just the structure but the primary focus of the performance. This may not be everything we want from a folclorico experience, but it is something genuine.

Check out the playfully rough push-and-pull of the Zacatecas ensemble for 10 couples: social dancing of vigor and good humor. Compare it to the refined “Danza indigena de los matachines” for the same number of people in the Sinaloa suite: a formal ritual for veiled dancers in a double-line, with gliding steps perfectly scaled to the shimmering string accompaniment. These sequences are far from the standard Folclorico itinerary but Lozano makes them highlights. Because they bring you into a world, they easily outweigh all the cutesie-poo kisses-behind-a-sombrero cliches of the evening--and all its deadly Pre-Columbian spectacle as well.

Of course, Veracruz and Jalisco suites are as inevitable at any folclorico performance as a Yaqui deer dance--and here Lozano offers no surprises. Except for the handsome, subtle floreador (Lorenzo Agustin Escamilla), the Jalisco fiesta is merely a professional finale, nothing special.

But Veracruz has genuine elegance to recommend it, plus the most spirited musicians of the evening. And the “Pascolas y el Venado” dance drama boasts an athletic, forceful soloist in Ignacio Dominguez Murguia, though this version has become shapeless and overblown.

Lozano’s company used to be unmatched in the beauty of its choral singing, but only a Yucatan interlude provided a sustained opportunity for this kind of artistry. Stage design in this anniversary season continued to be skimpy: a few medallions where others provide full-scale murals. However, the costumes dazzled, the dancers skillfully executed each assignment and the instrumentalists delivered all the old favorites capably.

Performances continue through Sunday.