BOLERO, bo-lero, the name given by the Spaniards to a number of their national dances of the ballet class, which in Spain are regu larly performed in theatres between the differ ent pieces. They are danced both by men and women, the male dancers who take part in these performances being called boleros, while the females are called boleras. The dances of this class which are best known and most in vogue are known by such names as the Cachuca, Iota aragonesa, Madrilefia, Ole, Ialeo de Jerez, etc. They are danced by one or more couples, or, as in the case of the indecent Ole, by a single female dancer. The dancers wear the Andalusian costume, partly because of all the national dresses of Spain this is the richest and most elegant, and partly because the greater number of the boleros are of Andalusian origin. The music for these dances is always played by the orchestra, and is generally marked by rapid changes of time. The melodies are often very beautiful, and are always based upon some of the national airs. The dancers mostly beat time
to the music with the castanets (castailuelas). These dances, when the performers are well trained and handsome, have a very powerful effect on the spectators, consisting as they do of graceful attitudes and movements of the body, and being strictly speaking not dances but pan tomimes. The dancers endeavor to express by their gestures all the different phases of the pas sion of love, and this often in a manner which passes far beyond the bounds of modesty. The dances of the common people, on which the boleros are founded, are essentially distin guished from the latter by the fact that the former are accompanied by singing,— partly that of the performers, partly that of the spec tators,— while the music is mostly supplied by the guitar, or in some cases by the tambourine. They are very simple, but at the same time very graceful. The dancers beat time with the cas tanets, as in the boleros properly so called.