The French composer Maurice Ravel wrote one of his most famous works, “Bolero” in 1928. Initially the dancer Ida Rubinstein asked Ravel to make an orchestral transcription of some piano pieces by the Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz. However, another author had already acquired the rights to orchestrate them, therefore Ravel wrote a completely new piece, based on the Spanish dance “Bolero”. The composer wrote: “It is a dance with a very moderate and continuously even movement, both due to its melody and to its harmony and rhythm. The element of diversity is added by the orchestral crescendo.”

The composition has seen a multitude of different choreographies over the years. However, many former Soviet people remember best of all the French choreographer Maurice Bejart's production in 1961, in which Maija Plisetskaya eventually danced in 1978.

The performance, staged at the Latvian National Opera and Ballet Theater in the 1980s, sets the story in a pub, where the main characters are a love triangle - a tavern dancer, her lover and a young man that the woman begins an affair with. The dramatic culmination of the story comes when the lover stabs the young man.

The Spaniard, played by Lita Beiris, evoked excitement and praise in the public and media. It seemed that Spanish passion and temperament have been tailor-made for the dancer. The story danced by Lita was in a way a continuation of Carmen, whom the dancer had interpreted and introduced to the public as a free, independent woman. The artist's Spanish spirit and the celebration of life could also be felt in the role of Rosita in the ballet “Don Quixote” by Ludwig Minkus. Ballerina's emotional performance once again shattered the widespread stereotype of “Nordic coolness.”

For many years Beiris' stage partner in “Bolero” was Andrey Rumjancev, and the dancer has said about him that “he was able to load this story with drama and intensity of feelings”.

The paintings in the show that illustrate the music of “Bolero” are about the hot Spanish sun, passionate heart, wild temperament and glamourous outfits. The stately, independent image of a Spanish dancer with a fan in her hand, vivid and bright colours – that is the way the artists, taking part in this exhibition, see the story in their artworks.

Guntars Gritāns, art historian