Diverse sampling of pop, Asian styles in ‘Uproar’

Talk about fusion. In an extraordinary evening at Highways Performance Space on Thursday, not only did Bollywood meet rap meet performance art meet modern dance and bharata natyam, but there was humor, depth and beauty to burn. Credit Mita Ghosal, Shyamala Moorty and Anjali Tata for the two-hour program, “Uproar,” a provocative excursion into the “diverse terrain of the South Asian female.”

Moorty’s “Passage to India,” with raga music and rap lyrics, first featured the trio -- joined by Soumya Sundaresh and co-choreographed by Sandra Chatterjee -- bopping with splayed fingers and doing yoga poses in low-slung jeans and Indian blouses. This segued into “Post-Natyam,” a solo choreographed and performed by Moorty in which she combined foot-slapping and head-bobbing with somersaults and handstands.

It was Moorty’s “Rise,” however, that astonished. In this 30-minute tour de force, she morphed into several characters, including old and young Hindu women, a raging Muslim and an Indo-American girl with clogged plumbing. Reciting her own poetic text, with video by Leilani Chan, she used a toilet and a plunger to create a metaphor for the loss of life caused by 2002’s riots in Gujarat, India.

Wit ruled in Ghosal’s “Bovinatrix” and “Banarasi Babu/Bindi.” The former had the petite Ghosal prancing in a pink-uddered cow costume with whip to liberate Western cows; the latter saw Ghosal in mustached drag, lip-syncing to Indian pop tunes, with Moorty and Sundaresh providing hip-swinging Hindi heat. Cathy Lee, clad in a man’s suit, then joined Ghosal for a rollicking duet.

A ferocious solo by Tata (choreographed by Viji Prakash, with video by Douglas Hudson) began “Avatar: Voices ... Shadow ... Stream,” in which only her lower legs and feet -- with hennaed soles -- were on view, while she was shrouded in hanging fabric. Unveiled, she exploded with her own choreographed footwork.

Moorty’s engaging solo “Sensitize” completed the program, which will repeat tonight, unfortunately minus the luminous Tata.

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‘Uproar’

Where: Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica

When: Tonight, 8:30

Price: $16

Contact: (310) 315-1459