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Batchas, or dancing boys, are one of the recognized institutions of Central Asia. They are most in vogue in Bokhara and the neighboring Samarkand. Until 1872, they flourished in Tashkent. Then a severe epidemic of cholera aroused the memory and consciences of the mullahs to the fad that dancing was contrary to the precept. of the Koran, and the Russian authorities forbade public dances during that summer, on the ground that the crowds which they drew together were likely to cause the spread of the epidemic. The employment of these batchas or boys as dancers, we are told, is a concession to that trait of Mohammedan prudery which prohibits the public dancing of women; but Mr. Schuyler thinks that the tone of morals in Central Asia is not improved by the change.
In general Mr. Schuyler describes the following as the mode of procedure at a bazem, or dance. At the hour appointed, the boys begin to come in twos and threes, accompanied by their guardians; and, after giving their hands to their host, take their places on one edge of the carpet, sitting in the Asiatic respectful way upon the soles of their feet. Bowls of tea and trays of fruits and sweets are set before them. The musicians meanwhile tune their tambourines, or rather increase their resonance, by holding them over a pan of glowing coals. When the boys have devoured enough grapes and melons, the dancing begins.
This is very difficult to describe. Clad in flowing robe of bright-colored variegated silk, and loose trousers, with bare feet, and with two long tresses of hair streaming from under his embroidered skullcap, the batchabegins to throw himself into graceful attitudes, merely keeping time with his feet and hands to the beating of the tambourines and the weird monotonous song of the leader. Soon his movements become wilder, and the spectators all clap their hands in measure; he circles madly about, throwing out his arms, and, after turning several somersaults, kneels facing the musicians. After a moment's pause he begins to sing in reply to the leader, playing his arms in graceful movements over his head. Soon he rises, and, with body trembling all over, slowly waltzes about the edge of the carpet, and with still wilder and wilder motions again kneels and bows to the spectators. A thrill and murmur of delight runs through the audience, an extra robe is thrown over him, and a bowl of tea handed to him as he takes his seat. This first dance is called katta-uin (the great play), in contradistinction to the special dances.
The natives seem most pleased with those dances where the batcha is dressed as a girl, with long braids of false hair and tinkling anklets and bracelets. Usually but one or two in a troop can dance the women's dance, and the female attire once donned is retained for the remainder of the feast, and the batcha is much besought to sit here and there among the spectators to receive their caresses. Each dance has its special name -- Afghani, Shirazi, Kashgari -- according to the characteristics of the country where it is national, or of the story it is supposed to represent; but all are much alike, differing in rapidity, or in the amount of posture and gesture. The younger boys usually perform those dances which have more of a gymnastic character, with many somersaults and hand-springs; while the elder and taller ones devote themselves more to posturing, slow movements, and amatory and lascivious gestures. The dance which pleased Mr. Schuyler most, and which he saw for the first time in Karshi, was the Kabuli, a sort of gymnastic game, where two boys, armed each with two wands, strike them constantly in alternate cadence, while performing complicated figures, twists, and somersaults. In general but one boy dances at a time, and rarely more than two together, these being usually independent of each other.
In all the large towns these batchas are very numerous; for it is as much the custom for a Bokharian gentleman to keep one, as it was in the middle ages for each knight to have his squire. No establishment of a man of rank or position was considered complete without one, and men of small means frequently club together to keep one between them, as a source of amusement during their hours of ease and recreation. They usually set him up in a tea-shop, and if the boy is pretty, his stall will be full of customers. They practice their profession from a very early age, until it is impossible to conceal their beards, -- say until they are twenty or perhaps twenty-five years old. It is rare that they lay up any money, but now and then one succeeds, and from being the keeper of a tea-house becomes a prosperous merchant, though the remembrance of his past life will frequently place the then odious affix batcha to his name.
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