In this article1 I am discussing how traditions are reenacted by dance revival and reconstruction. My starting point is the experience I have of restaging choreographic works by the Swedish choreographer Per Jonsson (1956-1998), of whose artistic production I am in charge. Through examples from working with repertoire, I will develop my thoughts around how new interpretations of a movement material reformulate the tradition and inform the present. I will also discuss how dancers of today are researching and developing new methods for processing a movement material. This in turn leads to new ways of dealing with quality, dynamics and timing in reconstruction of a written material.