DANCE REVIEW : Karpatok Folk Troupe Buoyant, Ingratiating

Karpatok Hungarian Folk Ensemble filled the stage with a buoyant display of intricate footwork, choral singing and Gypsy violins Sunday afternoon at Ambassador Auditorium. The locally based, 40-member troupe offered a generous program that included dances originating in the once-Hungarian Transylvania as well as works by Hungarian minorities such as the Croatians, Romanians and Gypsies.

The rhythmic syncopations characteristic of Hungarian dance were most vividly demonstrated in “Mehkereki Tapsos,” choreographed by company member Zoltan Lakatos. The work features six men dressed in black pants, white shirts and black riding boots, who clap, slap and stomp their own remarkably complex accompaniment.

The women also had their virtuosic moments. Dressed in the full skirts and embroidered blouses that dominate their many costume changes, the dozen or so women in “Tolnai Uveges Tanc” balance carafes of wine on their heads while gliding through an impressive series of circle and line formations.

There were times when the dancers seemed hesitant and the 10 musicians sounded wildly out of tune. But the near capacity audience seemed to enjoy that too.