Lola Montez (AKA: montes) was named the 'Ballerine of La Scala' and 'Montez, the Toreador'. She was actually the 'Countess of Landsfield' and was also known as Marie Gilbert who was an Irish and Spanish dancer who became the mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria (who held much political power until he abdicated). Of her three marriages, only the first, to Lieutenant Thomas James, was legal, since it was not dissolved in her lifetime.

    She is one of the characters in Leonide Massine's ballet "Bacchanale" (1939). Edward Caton staged 'Lola Montez', a ballet based on her life, for ballet America (1946). Lola was a skilled Spanish dancer who danced many of the Spanish dances such as the Bolero and Jota. 'El Olano' (AKA: El Oleano) was a danced created for or by her in 1843. It was a mixture of the Cachucha, Bolero, and Tarantella.

Lola was praised many times for her dancing as well as criticized for her faking a Spanish decent. There were many articles on her temper with police officials that almost had her thrown in jail and was escorted out of the country she was in on a few occasions.