Urban Tap Exhibits a Multicultural Mirth

If Cirque du Soleil, voodoo rituals and a refined hip-hop sensibility merged, the New York-based group Urban Tap might be the magical result. Founded by Tamango (Herbin Van Cayseele), this singular performer brought his company as part of Summerdance to the Lobero Theatre here Friday night to perform “Caravane.”

Tamango, who also directed, choreographed and hosted this evening-length multicultural vaudeville show for the new millennium, is a bare-chested Fred Astaire, personifying supple grace while tapping out insanely complex rhythms in feather-trimmed pants.

Whether sculpting exotic shapes in the air through his liquid upper torso and arms, or speedily skittering across the floor, Tamango brought a feral, albeit articulate energy, to the art of tap. Accompanied by a battery of musicians, including the remarkable one-handed trumpeter Fabio Morgera, and Daniel Moreno and Aboubacar Diabate on percussion and African drums, respectively, the carnival atmosphere was also enlivened by Jean de Boysson’s live, rear-screen video projections.

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The single-named Cabello, with soaring Brazilian polyrhythms as backdrop, mesmerized with astonishing capoeira contortions that a yogi might envy: one-armed spinning, tumbling and impossible back-flipping. Also mind-blowing: Vado Diomande, formerly an Ivory Coast street dancer, masked and elaborately garbed in African dress, gyrating with major attitude on 18-foot-tall stilts. He not only hammered out his own brand of tapping, but somersaulted on his prop appendages. Not to be outdone, breakdancer Forrest Webb spun on his baseball-capped head like a mad top.

While unadulterated joy in movement and music was the overriding theme of “Caravane,” Tamango, who was born in French Guiana and raised in Paris, also offered up a simple mantra--live in one’s dream. The audience responded accordingly, singing and clapping wholeheartedly, as the night totally rocked.

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Summerdance, various venues in Santa Barbara, (805) 962-2329. Also: Doug Varone & Dancers, July 27, Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido, Santa Barbara. Through July 28. $18 to $38. (805) 963-0761.