"I want it to be something that everyone can claim," says Chatterjea, originally from Bengal, India, and currently - well, a little bit of everything. She's a noted dance scholar and author, an associate professor in the department of theater arts and dance at the University of Minnesota. She's a dynamic performer and choreographer who has received international coverage in India Today and Ms. and Dance magazines. She's a political activist and the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, Srija.

Her latest dance work, "Duurbaar: Journeys Into Horizon," premieres tonight at the Southern Theater and was inspired, as are all her works, by social injustice and the perseverance of marginalized women.

"Duurbaar" takes its title from an organization created and led by sex workers in Kolata, India, one of the largest and poorest red-light districts in the world.

"The women marched and used the media to get the things, like condom laws, that they needed for their own safety," Chatterjea says. "I was inspired by how much these women with nothing were able to envision a better life."

Chatterjea's choreographic process deconstructs ancient forms and reassembles them to take on new meanings. She combines, for instance, the rhythmic footwork, sculptural clarity and sensual flow of the classical Indian dance form Odissi with the quick shifts and strident moves of the martial art Chhau. Together, she believes, these qualities can express the potent force for change that women possess.

While not directly about sex workers, "Duurbaar" deals with the indomitable power of ordinary women - especially women of color - to transform their lives and their world. "It's about that work energy women use to get through life, especially in countries like India, where tasks like mixing spices and chopping vegetables become a ritual of taking care - an aesthetic of work," Chatterjea says.

"Duurbaar" is also about the group of 20 women with whom Chatterjea has been involved since 2003. They range in age from 6 to 64. They are of African, Caribbean, South Asian, Taiwanese and Chinese descent.

During the year it took to create "Duurbaar," they studied intensively the movement forms and cultural and political practices on which Chatterjea's works are based. And they shared their own experiences.

During a recent rehearsal, a group of women moved in perfect unison, attacking the floor and the space around them like avenging furies. Their feet stamped out aggressive rhythms as their arms sliced decisively through the air.

"I call this section the tsunami," laughs Chatterjea, who stresses the importance of water metaphors in "Duurbaar." "So much of our imagination in India is taken up with waiting for rain," she says. "When the monsoon comes, it's lush with poetry."

So is "Duurbaar," which begins with women sweeping the floor and climaxes as they splash water over the stage, ecstatically drenching themselves in its life-giving force.

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