Spain's contribution to the evolution of theatrical dance is acknowledged within the categories of ballet and ethnic dance. Spanish folk dance elements have been incorporated into the classical ballet vocabulary, and exotic adaptations of dances from Spain have enriched the established ballet repertory: Fanny Ellsler's Cachucha, Petipa's "Spanish Dance" divertissement in Swan Lake, and Leonide Massine's Tricorne (The Three Cornered Hat) are wellknown examples. Soloists such as Pastora Imperio, La Argentina, Jose Greco, and Carmen Amaya have popularized around the world what has become known as the Spanish style of dance (for example, fandango, bolero, seguidillas, flamenco). However, Spain has not been associated with the history of early modern dance, a phenomenon largely attributed to a handful of American and German dancers. Tortola Valencia (1882-1955) claimed Spain as her country of origin, and made a flamboyant contribution to early modern dance in western Europe, Spain, and Latin America from 1908-1930. Her vast, eclectic repertory of Oriental, classical, and Spanish themes echoed the preoccupations of her contemporaries with whom she was favorably compared-in particular, Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, Ruth St. Denis, Mikhail Fokine, and Anna Pavlova (1). In her time she received critical acclaim as one of the most famous dancers in Europe, yet she is not cited in the English language history of dance (2). This is only part of the mystery that weaves through the fabric of Tortola Valencia's intriguing life and career. Her vast repertory of Oriental, classic, and Spanish numbers included: Danza drabe (Tchaikovsky), La serpiente (Delibes), Danza del incienso (Buccalossi), Danza mora (Chapi), La bayadera (Delibes), Muerte de Aase (Grieg), Marcha funebre (Chopin), La bacanal (Rubenstein), La gitana de lospies desnudos (Saint-Saens), La maja (Aroca), La primavera (Grieg), and La muerte del Cisne (Saint-Saens). She was most renowned for her Oriental themes, although Muerte de Aase, Marcha funebre, La gitana de los pies desnudos, and La maja were staples of her repertory and critically acclaimed throughout her career. Tortola Valencia is situated within that strand of modernism before World War I that engaged European intellectuals and artists with the essential, the primitive and the exotic in a search for lost spiritual values during the rapid technological changes of the fin de siecle. The myth of origins took on new significance in the quest for universal knowledge and truth (3).