TRANSFORMATIONS OF TRADITION IN MODERN PERFORMING ARTS PRACTICES

Abstract

This article explores the evolving relationship between tradition and innovation in modern performing arts practices, emphasizing how heritage is continually reinterpreted to remain relevant in contemporary contexts. Tradition is understood not as a static inheritance but as a dynamic process shaped by cultural memory, artistic experimentation, technological advancement, and social transformation. The study highlights the ways in which theater, dance, music, and interdisciplinary performance rework inherited repertoires, often blending them with modern aesthetics, global influences, and digital technologies. These transformations are shown to extend beyond aesthetic innovation, encompassing shifts in pedagogy, cultural policy, and social function, as well as the politics of representation and identity. By examining how tradition operates within modern performance as both a resource and a site of contestation, the article demonstrates the resilience and adaptability of performing arts in addressing the complexities of globalization, cultural diversity, and social change. Ultimately, it argues that the vitality of modern performing arts lies in their capacity to transform tradition into a living, evolving practice that bridges past and present while imagining new futures.