A very complete text, transcribed in Chayanta in 1871, was published by Jesus Lara in 1957. Lara came to the conclusion that it is an authentic native play, composed in archaic Quechuan, with a structure reminiscent of pre-Columbian theatre. Another version, bilingual, but belonging to the same cycle, was collated at Oruro in 1942 and published by C. H. Balmori in 1955. There is also a detailed description of the Dance of Toco, in Marco Unzueta s novel Valle . According to Unzueta s description of the Dance is performed in the central square in the presence of crowds of spectators who are kept at a distance by two boys, wearing devil-masks and armed with tridents.
Music is played o native instruments, flutes and tambourines.
The actors are divided into two groups, Indians and Spaniards, twenty yards apart. The nustas , Indian princesses who form the chorus, wear white embroidered dresses and gold paper coronets. The Inca, whose costume is somewhat fanciful, caries as his distinguishing symbol, a staff ornamented with plaits of red wool with which he strikes a metal disc to signal the start of the play. At Oruro, he holds a kind of battle-axe, such as we see in the drawings of Poma de Ayala. They are armed with sabres, cudgels and shotguns.