Why is a standard time line inadequate for discussing the history of performance traditions? What ...

A standard time line is inadequate for representing many performance traditions that evolved over an extended period and had no specific moment of creation. This is especially true of traditions that reach back before written records. As performance traditions get passed down from generation to generation, they are adapted and altered, making it difficult to pinpoint when one form ends and other begins. A standard time line fails to capture the reality and nuances of the lives, deaths, and rebirths of many performance traditions that have left us no tangible record of their trajectory.