At first glance (or sound), string quartet music and tap dancing might seem to mix like oil and water. But in the hands (and feet) of Cuarteto Latinoamericano and Tapage at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie Thursday night, the two art forms melted together like "buttah."

The underlying connection was the rhythmic base.

The quartet, in residence at Carnegie Mellon University, specializes in Latino music, rippling with a syncopated uplift and metric complexity. And the Tapage duo, Mari Fujibayashi and Olivia Rosenkrantz from New York, showed an elegant choreographic response.

This was the Carnegie's first concert on its new "Meet the Challenge" series, and it was a success.

The sound balance between the artists was perfectly in tune, and the audience was appreciative throughout.

Called "DANZAQ," the evening began on an instrumental note, with the dancers seated like bookends on either side of the musicians. The rhythmic tap choices were lean and clear, almost spare, as they would be during the entire evening.

But the rest of the time, the dancers had their own space on the remainder of the stage, where they added nifty video components to "Morango ... almost a tango" and snow-like banners in "Homura," although here the Japanese kimonos seemed at odds with tap shoes.

Credit Latinoamericano for laying down a wonderful musical palette -- loved the pizzicato work in "Sensemaya -- where the selections were undeniably Latino and undeniably serious contemporary music.

Only at the end did Tapage relax in a bit of '20s-inspired moves, at once Chaplin-esque and Charleston-esque, for a suitably light-hearted finale.