Hungarian troupe at ambassador

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Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena wasn’t always an ideal setting for the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble on Wednesday. Billed as having 100 members, the Budapest-based company never could


venture more than 36 dancers and 29 singers on stage without fully occupying it. (An orchestra of 17 was in the pit.) Under the circumstances, artistic director Sandor Timar’s complex,


layered choreography could look blurred and overly busy whenever he multiplied--as he frequently did--patterns presented first by a single couple or a small group. Crowded and unclear, for


instance, were the fluidly forming--and dissolving--large group formations (circles within circles) in “Dances of Sovidek” and the detailed patterns behind the full front line in “Dances


From Szatmar.” Still, there were many opportunities to admire the men’s virtuosity in rubbery, crossed-legged high kicks, heel clicking or boot- and-body slapping and the women’s poised


delicacy, particularly in intricate maneuvers while balancing wine bottles on their heads. On the musical side, amplification created bizarre displacement of the chorus. No matter where the


singers stood, their voices came from speakers above the stage. But violinist Tamas Daroci Bardos--bow in hand--led an irresistibly woozy account of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, among


other onstage orchestral pieces. MORE TO READ