La escuela bolera

Abstract

These words1 of Angel Pericet Blanco, senior member of the third generation of the Pericet family of dance artists and teachers, express perfectly the goals of the historic international conference held in Madrid from November 16 to 22, 1992.2 Some 250 Spanish dance artists, teachers, critics, historians, and musicologists, along with colleagues from Europe and the Americas, met to investigate and celebrate escuela bolera-the bolero school-the Spanish dance genre that by the early nineteenth century had developed from traditional regional dances into a heightened national theatrical expression. Sponsored by the Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escenicas y de Miisica of Spain's Ministry of Culture, this encuentro internacional was truly an encounter, an active confrontation (for the most part friendly) among different disciplines, experiences, viewpoints, intense beliefs, and loyalties. The event was conceived, organized, and moderated by Roger Salas, a dance critic and historian. His motivation: to promote research on la Escuela Bolera as the true genesis of Spanish theatrical dance, as the true Spanish ballet . to once and for all wake it up from its prolonged siesta.3