The extraordinarily witty choreographer Patricia Sandback, whose recent dances explored the Peking Opera and the movement quality of an iguana, continued her string of humorous and smart dance-theater with "Life is Just A Bowl of Cherries," a superb new work that ran over the weekend at SDSU's Studio Theater.

Faith Jensen-Ismay is a crazy TV chef

ala infomercial in "Life is Just a Bowl of

Cherries." Photo: Elazar Harel

Mixing images from opera, soap operas, cheesy cooking shows and butterflies, the solid cast in "Life" sings and dances through hilarious and dramatic life and death vignettes, and asks that big question, "Why are we here?" But Sandback believes that life is short, so the heavy stuff is balanced with irony and plenty of slapstick.

If you happened to catch the two-part program during its far too-brief run, no doubt you are still humming "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" as two versions of the tune played, subtly connecting the two Acts - let's just call them Butterflies and TV.

Tonnie Sammartano and Erica Buechner were riveting as giant chrysalides struggling to break free from their cellophane wrappings. The crunchy sound of the plastic and their flopping hands protruding from their cocoons was eerily fascinating, as was their transformation to busy women in gowns who fussily folded giant origami wings.

Sammartano seemed to be channeling a perfect June Cleaver as she and Buechner exchanged glances in their face-off to see who could fold the best and form the finest crease. Sequences with heavy heads leaning back, orgasmic contractions, soft shoe grapevines and an exotic percussive journey suggested that life is too short to waste on folding paper, or laundry. And it all led to a brilliant climax, as the women gasped and a video of butterflies in flight appeared on the back wall.

Kathryn McLean, Mandy Langdon and

Lyndsey Gemmell are soap stars in

Act II of Patricia Sandback's new work.

Photo: Elazar Harel

Act II was a spoof on the outrageous storylines of soap operas drawn from plot summaries, which were a real kick. Dancers from the Mojalet Dance Collective portrayed archetype doctors, lovers, cheaters, pregnant women, and gun-toting nut-jobs with rapid-fire dialogue and excellent singing. "Doctor! Baby Jenny! Little Ethan! Sheridan! Cady! Kenny! Lucas!" they screamed. Melodramatic dances and vignettes had them popping in and out of the wings to speak and interpret jazzy rhythms and arias. At times they all became doctors with splayed surgical fingers, a hilarious gesture that reappeared throughout the work. Some of their antics were too long and began to feel repetitive, but they were thoughtfully connected and the dancing was polished.

The women (Lyndsey Gemmell, Mandy Langen, and Kathryn McLean) looked perky in their taffeta party dresses, and they flitted over the stage on half-toe with Barbie doll feet, as if wearing imaginary high heels. The men, David Hanlon and Robby Johnson, portrayed all of the male roles with syrupy manliness and exceptional delivery. And Hanlon was spot-on in his portrayal of the wide-eyed guy who finds out he's going to be a father, acted to a recording of Eddie Cantor and Nora Martin's "We're Having a Baby." One of the funniest and sharpest sections had the group manipulate - stretch, twirl, burp and toss - dolls to the tune "Yes, Sir That's My Baby."

Sandback's twisted sense of humor was further revealed with Faith Jenson-Ismay as a wacked out TV chef who rolled in between the soaps as if the TV remote control had taken over. Jenson-Ismay demonstrated magnet clips, walloped a bag of Cheetos, and stabbed lettuce with plastic serrated knives, all the while screaming in nonsensical gibberish. Funny, yet creepy, the image of a smiling woman waving a knife kept us on edge, but Sandback softened the sharp edges with irony and wonderful music. And Jenson-Ismay's chef character came to her senses, sort of. In the end we were left with dead soap opera stars on the stage, but also Jenson-Ismay rejoicing in a sea of fluffy packing peanuts and Louis Armstrong singing "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries."

It was a theater moment that became its own reality, and it had Sandback written all over it. She's been planning this work for about two decades. We're glad she finally got the right cast and opportunity to do it.

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