Why can I be so sure? It was like this: one evening after dinner, Balbir, Premsagar and Sudarshanrai took me to a dance performance by Balasaraswati in New Delhi. She was known as the best exponent of the classical Indian dance style Bharatanatyam. I enjoyed the performance, and towards the end she several times paused for a moment and then with a nod to the musician took up various dance steps for a short time. Eventually it dawned on me that she was improvising. It was thrilling to think, "Fine performers will follow her, but beyond improvisation there is nothing more".