ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the changes that occurred in the twentieth century, and the transpositions in the tradition, the form and the performance. It was the Kuchipudi Natya seminar held in 1959 which led to the recognition of the art form as classical dance. The use of painted backdrops depicting the locale was, as has been noted, first adopted by the Kuchipudi yakshagana performers from the touring Parsi drama companies. The number of artistes, stages and performances may be growing but the current condition of kuchipudi is, as the next chapter shows, mixed. Artistes increasingly find that they need to carry recorded music, thus departing from the tradition of live performance and its advantages of flexibility and response. More stages, for instance, does not mean an improvement in the economics involved. Some of the kuchipudi artistes are going ahead with the task, thus inviting still newer transpositions.
