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

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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