It's very tempting, but a bit too glib, to see the latest piece made by and for Anurekha Ghosh and her wonderful dancers as a reflection of the experience of younger Asians in the West.

Under the overall title of Ruins, the three sections, so very different and yet organically linked, could be seen as travelling from classical Indian Kathak dance via a hybrid form to something much more like a western contemporary style.

But it?s not that simple. After Saturday night?s performance at The Drum in Birmingham there was a chance to hear from the performers about their experience of the piece and the intentions of the choreographers. Sudeshna Maulik explained that simply lying on the floor and lifting her legs was a fantastic challenge to her, so far removed is her classical training from the demands of western-style choreography.

One of her hardest tasks was to keep her face blank, said Sudeshna. She did it by learning the piece (with no rhythmic cues in Glyn Perrin?s fascinating sound score) with facial expressions to give her an emotional hold on the movements ? and then blanking her face.

But these dancers are so deeply steeped in the graceful flowing Kathak style with its emphasis on facial expression, that when they approach the more full-body movements demanded by Shobana Jeyasingh?s choreography in Debris, the edges are somehow blurred, blanked faces or not.

Forget the Martha Graham-style angularity that characterises western contemporary styles, this is rounder, more flowing, somehow less abstract ? something not seen before in quite this way.

But the audience is led to this new experience via a piece by Kumundini Lakhia, one of India?s foremost Kathak choreographers, with music by Atul Desai.

She knows all the rules and tries not to break them, she told the audience, but there is room for improvisation. She took Ruins as a literal concept and had India?s ancient architecture in mind in her piece ? hence the extraordinary appearance of Sudeshna, a woman in white symbolising memory, longing and the weight of tradition.

She whipped across the performing area as though on rails, back and arms immobile, feet a blur.

Anurekha herself choreographed the middle piece, with the music and rhythmic accompaniment conceived by Ronu Majumdar, India?s top flute player, and Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, the group?s brilliant tabla player, who found himself with a walk-on role.

Fascinating to hear Anurekha?s explanation of the genesis of her movements from thinking about equations and adding up numbers.

Debasis Basu and Sujit Karmakar, the male dancers, also explained how challenging ? and exciting ? these pieces were for them.

That?s a view that can only be echoed by audiences on the group?s current tour. They?ll be at Redditch?s Kingsley Theatre on March 25, and Hereford?s Courtyard on May 3.

Sid Langley