Bolero
Spanish dance in triple meter with a characteristic accompanying rhythm.
What it means
The bolero is a moderately fast Spanish dance in triple meter that emerged in the late eighteenth century. It is marked by a fixed rhythmic accompaniment pattern, often played on castanets, over which melody and dance steps unfold.
The Spanish bolero should be distinguished from the Cuban bolero, a slow, romantic song form in duple meter that developed independently in the late nineteenth century and shares little beyond the name.
Musical use
The bolero rhythm was taken up repeatedly in concert music, most famously in Maurice Ravel's 1928 orchestral piece Boléro, built on a single, relentlessly repeated rhythmic ostinato over one long crescendo. Ravel adopted the basic idea of the Spanish dance without following its actual steps.
In Spain the bolero remained part of the dance repertoire alongside related forms such as the seguidilla, with which it shares its origins.