Dance and Music Reviews : Gerstler Premiere on Final Generator Eight Program

Context is everything--at least that seems to sum up the final Generator Eight program Sunday, concluding the dance festival at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Otherwise, how could a piece that had previously smacked of a crank-’em-out mentality--Sarah Elgart’s “Sleepless”--suddenly become the heavyweight of this evening?

Answer: by not being placed on the same bill with its look-alikes and by landing alongside several very thin, very improvisatory items.

The touted premiere of the program, Tina Gerstler’s “Onomatopoeia,” boasted neither cleverness, nor craftsmanship, nor depth, nor wit, and gave away its terminal cuteness at the outset: Five women stroll onstage, warm up as for a class and chat with a trio of musicians already in position.

Then, against what is basically a conga solo, courtesy of Brad Dutz, the dancers go through their paces--sprinting, flinging, rolling and sliding--in what now seems the accepted vocabulary of postmodern dance. Appropriating a language without addressing syntax or meaning, however, does not bode well.

And in trying to puzzle out the value of Gerstler’s contribution--after all, LATC does provide a superior stage opportunity where audiences expect full professionalism--this viewer could find none.

As for her choice of title, well, it was consistently lame. There were nominal attempts at representing the instrumental sounds with apt movements--a gourd glissando, for instance, elicited a ratchety motion. A program note offered, by way of supposed explanation, the following: “sizzle, slither, sputter, slam, pant, drag, patter, zig-zag, barf, whine.”

By contrast, “Sleepless” had elements of interest. With its pajama-clad dancers cavorting in a densely wild nightmare against the cosmic musings of narrator Brian Brophy, at least there was an idea to grab onto.

The agenda also included tapper Fred Strickler and Shok-T’s “Inverted Carnival.”