A forceful, enticing tango

Thirty-eight buttons for the right hand, 33 for the left, and even when played by a master all it seems to do is sigh and moan in a state of eternal hopelessness. The bandoneon is nobody’s favorite instrument -- you can think of it as a concertina with delusions of grandeur -- but it is the soul of tango and it wheezes its tales of lost love with unforgettable melancholy.

In the program by the Romulo Larrea Tango Ensemble that opened Thursday in the intimate Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the bandoneon is wielded by Larrea with unusual, invigorating rhythmic force, not merely dominating the bravura piano and strings of the seven musicians but insistently admonishing them with reminders of human suffering.

Even before vocalist Veronica Larc brings her deceptively honeyed tone to tango ballads, this “Tangos ... for La Milonga” program speaks eloquently of tango as a distinctive and often profound expressive realm. And Larc (Larrea’s daughter) is fearless, venturing a daunting array of tango classics, including Carlos Gardel’s celebratory “Mi Buenos Aires querido,” something like the national anthem of tango.

Larrea formed the ensemble in 1990 to preserve the musical legacy of tango’s first century, adding dancers only 10 years later. You could argue that the dancing prioritizes contemporary sensuality and technical sophistication, largely subordinating the gritty origins of tango and its doomed worldview.

However, those who’ve cruised the tango shows of Buenos Aires will tell you that glamour reigns supreme there, and so Larrea includes a fair share of it in Founders Hall. Under the direction of Cecilia Saia, the six dancers adroitly summarize the range of tango style, from intense, traditional kicking and twisting maneuvers in a partner’s arms to flamboyant, gymnastic lifts and drops.

Eva Lucero wastes no time in getting her thigh thrust up high against Patricio Touceda’s hip, and the way he swings her around his body, or pulls her in a circle along the floor, tells you everything you need to know about a man who keeps a woman in his orbit -- and a woman happy to remain there.

In contrast, Si-hwa Noh dances with Maximiliano Paradiso as if there’s some terrible secret or betrayal that keeps drawing her away from him. Even when he lifts and spins her as if she’s physically weightless, the emotional weight of her dancing makes you suspect high-risk turbulence ahead.

Saia and Ronen Khayat initially perform a happy challenge dance: fast, athletic, full of bold partnering ploys. But later on they, too, seem to dance through unresolved trauma, and his protective embrace at the end openly acknowledges her pain.

Ensemble dances tend to be uneventful, with intriguing but undeveloped changes of partners (including the men dancing with one another), a kind of gloss on the music but nowhere near as passionate.

Tango newcomers should note that Larrea pays tribute to the justly famed composer Astor Piazzolla, but by no means allows his music to dominate the repertory. So expect plenty of discoveries, starting with Juan de Dios Filiberto and Mariano Mores. Besides Larrea, the excellent musicians include Francois Pilon, Frederic Lefebvre, Marie-Claude Perron, Sheila Hannigan, Denis Chabot and Paul Klopstock.

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Romulo Larrea Tango Ensemble

Where: Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center,

600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: Today, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.

Price: $46 (matinees), $49 (evening)

Contact: (714) 740-7878