From Aragon to Latvia: Exoticism, Identity, and Political Uses of the jota in the Baltics (1930-1948)

Abstract

The Aragonese jota (a Spanish dance) had a notorious impact in Latvia. We located thirteen ballets, divertissements, and short choreographic works that were performed at least eighty-one times between 1930 and 1948. These case studies were analyzed based on primary visual and archival sources. The Aragonese dance not only became the climax of Spanish-themed ballets but also of the programs danced by Spanish dancers Bonifacio, Nati Morales, and Manuela del Río. This article aims at highlighting the jota as a dance in which Latvian society was mirrored. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 increased the number of Spanish-themed choreographies in Riga. Latvian ballet master Osvalds Lēmanis choreographed a new jota in Don Quixote that turned into a soft power strategy of the Latvian Republic to improve the perception of this country abroad through the international tours of the Latvian National Ballet. The jota became a propaganda tool during World War II. In 1941 Laurencia was the first ballet premiered after the Soviet occupation. Its jota symbolized the Russian Revolution. After the Nazi invasion, Don Quixote was performed with four different jotas. The Blue Division (the German Army’s Spanish division) was in the audience. The jota, initially perceived in the ballet Jota Aragonesa as an exotic and distant other, became assimilated to such a point by Latvian dancers (e.g. Marta Alberinga) that it evolved into a cornerstone of their repertoire.