Tobas (dance) The dance of the Tobas is a Bolivian folkloric warrior dance, which figuratively personifies the ethnic groups of the Gran Chaco and the Bolivian Amazon, with their typical clothing and cultural rites that go according to their social environment, united and accommodated in a single dance, expressing the feeling of the warrior and attitudes of hunting, with their dancing through acrobatic jumps and a singular choreography. In Oruro at the end of the 19th century, the first comparsa of Chunchus Tobas Oruro emerged, made up mainly of urban folklorists dedicated to mining, who participate in the religious festivals of the place. In the early 1900s, the first Tobas comparsa that intervened in Oruro, was directed by Tomás Cáceres, Mateo Escalera, by occupation miners, crossing borders since then, with the passage of time in 1916 it adopted a better organizational structure and on January 14, 1917 this Tobas comparsa was institutionalized by Tomás Cáceres Nava and Donato Cáceres Véliz, accompanied by Mateo and Leocadio Escalera Bravo with songs performed by Justa Escalera Quiroz, who made up the band of quenistas, officially giving rise to the existence of the "dance of the Tobas". In Oruro, the Tobas dance acquired its own personality, becoming an iconic dance of the Oruro Carnival, with its dance choreography and costumes, personifying the jungle inhabitants of the tropical climate of eastern Bolivia, called wild Indians, Tobas, the uncultured, rugged and uncivilized (1908), also called "chunchus" by Aymara and Quechua speaking people, a name attributed to any person with a typical attire of clothing adorned with feathers, seed necklaces, and other accessories. The costumes are decorated with feathers and seeds, superimposing the clear characteristics of the Andean costume, the head with a turban covered with dyed feathers, decorated with mirrors and jewels, silk shirt, poncho or small cape, skirt or skirt down to the knee, sash decorated with metal coins, shorts or overalls, wristbands and anklets made of feathers, embroidery and fringes that sit on the poncho and skirt. Since 1976 they decided to incorporate other figures of characters, with their typical clothing, the Chunchos, Cambas, Chipayas, Macheteros, Brujo, Izozog, Matacos, Guerreros Yuquis, Itonama, Chimanes, Sirionó, Chacobó, and others, personifying the ethnic groups of eastern Bolivia. The music was formerly purely indigenous, played and accompanied by traditional quen players, pinquillos, drums, and whistles. For approximately one hundred years, the quen band gave the dance a better effect, a jungle flavor, with agile steps, great jumps, as if they had wings on their heels, expressing warrior attitudes, skillfully handling their spear or chonta. The music is played according to the four basic steps created by the Tobas of the Southern Zone. A change of musical beat indicates the transition from one dance step to another: Traditional Bolívar step music, Traditional street step music, Traditional camba step music, and Traditional chucu chucu step music. In the 1960s, the music of the quen band was replaced by a band of metal instruments, with contagious rhythms. Today, locals and foreigners vibrate to the rhythm and beat of the beautiful melodies danced by the great traditional Tobas of Oruro “Southern Zone”. The Tobas Dance has its origins in the city of Oruro and enjoys legal regulations that declare it Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Bolivian People.