It is customary for those people of the world who have the benefits of bygone civilizations to talk of tradition. Golden ages of Greece, Rime and India are gone. But they have left traditions of their art for generations to come. These traditions are the quintessence of all that is good, beautiful and aesthetic during ancient times in India where we have a tradition of thousands of years, we attribute to all our fine 

arts, divine origin or inspiration. But our land has had tremendous political and social upheavals and inspite of all these, our culture has absorbed all the changes resulting from such upheavals. As ages pass by, all these changes have become one with our tradition. And so Art changes and progresses during all social and political changes. Art is therefore a mirror of society. But in every society there are revolutionaries who think far ahead of there times and create artistic masterpieces, which may not be recognized during the existence of these revolutionaries. But in course of time their values get recognized and they pass into tradition. Van Gogh and Gauguin might have been cried down during their lives but today they are remembered as the Greats of Impressionists.

Their works are today treasures, which have immense monitory, national and artistic values. Similarly, one can categorically say that classical Bharata Natyam of a century ago was not the same as of the present day. Social conditions, customs and appreciation for dance were neither the dame. However, there is one link with the past and that is the link of Indian tradition, which has survived even to this day. On the firm foundation of the traditional forms of dance of yore, modern dance teachers and composers create present day dances.