One of the major purposes of traditional Aboriginal dancing was to tell stories, which were passed down through generations. These stories would be about the land, animals, dreamtime, and Aboriginal people.
In many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies, dance has a central role in people's lives – not just a small handful of dance specialists, but all people. Furthermore, it is not exclusive, rather, dance is used deliberately as a way of bringing people together.
The Cassowary Dance: Bundara
Bundara shows the dancers imitation and hunting skills, as they mimic Australia's largest flightless bird and local rainforest icon, the Cassowary.
Traditional and ceremonial Aboriginal Dance has been a part of the Aboriginal culture for thousands of years. A brief description of dances from various tribal areas around Tropical North Queensland. more than 40,000 years, used to promote health and wellbeing and share cultural knowledge.
Dance and ritual have been essential parts of the cultural and spiritual life of Australian Indigenous peoples for more than 40,000 years, used to promote health and wellbeing and share cultural knowledge.
Music and dance are important to Aboriginal culture. They are used as part of everyday life and to mark special occasions. Songlines tell stories of the Creation and Dreamtime as Aboriginals made their journeys across the desert, while other sacred music is used in ceremonies.
Cultural Dance is really important, this is our way to tell other people on what are the things that they need to know about our culture. It is also the way that other people could have respect, knowledge and give importance to our traditions and norms. Let other cultures tell what are the stories behind their dance.
Aboriginal Dance
Dancing was done with set arm, body and foot movements with a lot of foot stamping. Today this is called "shake a leg". The best dancers and singers enjoyed wide reputations and high respect. Dances often imitated animals or birds.
Sometimes called Joonba ( heritage corroboree), Wangka (Festive Corroboree), Munga Munga (women's corroboree), dancing has from time immemorial to the present day been used by all Australian Aboriginal tribes both for ritual purposes and to express and represent many many facets of their lives and beliefs.
The Dance of Life is a series of paintings by psychiatrist Professor Helen Milroy, depicting a multi-dimensional model of health and wellbeing from an Aboriginal perspective.
In Native American cultures, dance is a way of expression, a language in itself. Dancing promotes community interaction and meditation. Dances celebrate events such as harvest or seasonal changes, marriages, and representatives from other tribes or nations.
Develop respect for diversity within society. Build upon knowledge of indigenous fauna. Promote creativity and movement.
Shortlisted for the 2021 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Australian History. Representing Australian Aboriginal Music and Dance 1930-1970 offers a rethinking of recent Australian music history. Amanda Harris presents accounts of Aboriginal music and dance by Aboriginal performers on public stages.
The complex set of spiritual values developed by Aboriginal people and that are part of the Dreamtime include 'self-control, self-reliance, courage, kinship and friendship, empathy, a holistic sense of oneness and interdependence, reverence for land and Country and a responsibility for others.
Ceremonies ensure that vital components of the lores and The Dreaming stay intact. They provide a time and place where all people in a language group and community work together to maintain and ensure the ongoing survival of spiritual and cultural beliefs.
Bush dances entertain people of all ages. They are bring together community and family groups in an activity that they can do together. Bush dancing is Australia's version of country dance or contra-dance.
The dance caught on and spread to other tribes and was passed down to future generations. To Indigenous cultures, the hoop became a sacred and important aspect of traditional healing ceremonies, representing the never-ending circle of life.
"Aboriginal spirituality is defined as at the core of Aboriginal being, their very identity. It gives meaning to all aspects of life including relationships with one another and the environment. All objects are living and share the same soul and spirit as Aboriginals. There is a kinship with the environment.
Australian Bush Dance has its roots in the very early settlement of the colony. Initially it was influenced by the styles and customs of the early settlers, but evolved to be an amalgam of the early colonial style and dances from Europe and America, as the miners and settlers came to Australia.
One example of Indigenous Australian dance is the corroboree, which involves intricate rhythmic movements and chanting, and is often performed in a circle around a fire.
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
The traditional owners of the land which archaeological evidence confirms is the oldest continuous civilisation on earth, extending back over 65,000 years. They were among the first humans to migrate out of Africa, across the coastlines of India and Asia until reaching the shores of Australia.
It also serves as a religious and ceremonial dance that signifies and wields good fortune and scares off evil wandering spirits. Therefore, dance is a tool of cultural expression to convey a lot about society and to the observers.
Cultural dance is a special type of dance that is shared by a community. It can have specific uses and meanings. These include rituals, ceremonies like marriage and birth, paying respect to ancestors, or simply for enjoyment! The dance is unique to a certain people and their traditions.
They expand social and cultural interaction, and provide an overall community feeling of well-being and togetherness. The motivation imparted to its pupils by a competent school of dance, provides self-discipline which shows itself in a variety of socially beneficial ways.