Oba Thaung

Oba Thaung (Burmese: ဩဘာသောင်း), birth name Thaung Tin (born 11 April 1898) was an eminent Burmese anyeint dancer and singer, who is credited for codifying the previously undocumented Burmese dance repertory. She started her dancing career since she was fourteen and had had twenty four years of experiences. In 1953, the State School of Fine Arts was open in Mandalay and Oba Thaung served as first dance instructor for female students. At there, she codified 125 steps of the traditional Burmese choreography, literally named Kabya Lut Aka (ကဗျာလွတ်အက; Dance without Verse), which consists of five dance courses intended as a five-year term of study. Each of the five courses is broken into 25 dance sequences comprising a total of 125 stages, with each stage of precisely ten minutes. She was awarded the title Wunna Kyawhtin, the highest honor given to an artist by the Burmese government.