An artful exploration on how East fits into West

The question of how to find a place for ancient Asian cultures in the modern Western world informed all four dances by contemporary Indonesian choreographer Sri Susilowati at Highways Performance Space on Thursday.

Titled “A Name Is All That Remains,” Susilowati’s program sometimes grew aggressively polemical, using dance simply as a vessel to hold spoken tracts. But she came closest to answering her question in “Remembering,” a remarkable women’s trio that adapted techniques from ancient Javanese classicism to suggest how Middle Eastern women are hobbled and eventually smothered by social conventions.

A costume metamorphosis helped trace that process -- never more surprisingly than when the women kicked back their long trains, releasing showers of rose petals on the stage. Unusual costuming and Javanese classicism also shaped “Bedhaya Burden,” an ensemble piece that followed the contours of antique court ritual but with a radical new purpose: showing pregnant women giving birth to chains.

Beyond the concept of pregnancy as imprisonment, the work offered startling contrasts in accompaniment, a magical manipulation of masks and an invocation solo by Anjali Tata designed to lull the audience into expecting old-fashioned exoticism.

In “Kung-Fu Fighting,” Susilowati confronted those expectations through comedy, impersonating a nightclub dancer who grew increasingly rebellious at having to display the remnants of a glorious cultural heritage for some white guy in a pith helmet.

This microcosm of colonialism ended in revolution, of course, but not before Susilowati performed deliciously awful fusions of martial arts and disco moves: East meets West on the dance floor.

“That Ethnic Thing” amounted to little more than a harangue on the same subject, with dancers representing Indonesia (Susilowati), India (Tata) and Central Asia (Aliah Najmabadi) complaining about their marginalization on Western stages. Unfortunately, they never began to consider how their arts might become as compelling for Western audiences as they are in their original contexts. That task is what “Remembering” accomplished, like the best works by Jamal, Ramaa Bharadvaj and other artists who bring to Southland dance a whole world of enlightening perspectives.

However, the formal juxtaposition of Susilowati, Tata and Najmabadi proved artful, and “That Ethnic Thing” did achieve one major innovation: adding the extended, defiant middle finger to the codified gesture-language of the mystic East.

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‘A Name Is All That Remains’

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

When: Tonight, 8:30

Price: $16

Contact: (310) 315-1459