What accounts for changes in style?

[Alexandra]

Amitava raised this question on the "Pas de Quatre" thread, and I thought it worth copying over here for discussion:

1) Choreographer egos and/or lack of research of a piece?

2) Change in taste of audience?

3) Changes in aesthetics?

This "loss" phenomenon seems to happen in all art forms. I have felt the pain in other forms of the performing arts I am more familiar with. I hope we are not just old nostalgic farts, who cannot accept evolution.

However in this case, the objective at a minimum should be to keep the original choreographer's vision as close to reality as possible.

[dirac]

Alexandra, thank you for retrieving Amitava’s very interesting post. It’s a complicated issue. “Original intent” is a useful goalpost, but well meaning people can disagree on what was intended when, and on what was appropriate Then but less suitable Now.