ABORIGINALS

Dance Description
MOVEMENT

Movements and gestures in Aboriginal dances vary

depending on the theme and story theyre telling. A lot of
the movement seen in the dances can vary from; hopping,
jumping, stomping, Clapping, abstract knee or arm
movement. Dances are accompanied by chanting and
hand clapping and men often slap their upper legs.

SPACE

Dance and ritual spaces are usually positioned on

directional axis. Traditional dancing grounds and ritual
spaces were organized in terms of the dreaming tracks.

MEANING

For the people in their own country it defined to roles,

responsibilities and the place itself. These ritual
performances gave them an understanding of themselves
in the interplay of social, geographical and environmental
forces. (Wikipedia)

Body Decoration & Objects

Dancers decorate their bodies with patterns

of red and yellow ochres, white pipe clay
& charcoal.

Male dancers may be decorated with

feathers or certain plants & colored with
ochre powder, or just left white.

They may also where head-dress made of

grass and sticks with colored fluff &
certain design which is worn mainly by
men.

Women wear headbands with bunched

feathers.

Often dancers carry objects varying from

decorated boomerangs, shields, spears or
fighting sticks depending on the occasion.

Traditional Instruments &

Sounds

The Didgeridoo
Provides a drone-like sound.

Bullroarer
A piece of wood attached to a long string
which is swung around to produce a
roaring sound
Clapsticks
wooden sticks clapping sticks that make a
percussive rhythm.

Dances are accompanied by chanting, hand clapping and songs in their traditional language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rspN1MUcIOk

Cultural Values & Beliefs

Aboriginal spiritual values are based

upon a strong connection and
appreciation for the land and a belief
in the Dreamtime.

Dreamtime describes the

commencement of the people and of
the land. Dreamtime involves a story
of how things have happened, how
the universe came to be, how
humans were created, and how the
creator intended for humans to
function in this world.

THE DANCERS
AND DANCES

MEN, WOMEN AND

CHILDREN DANCE
TOGETHER
For a number of Indigenous
Australian groups their dances were
secret and or sacred, gender could
also be an important factor in some
ceremonies with men and women
having separate ceremonial
traditions. Since their respect their
dance, it does not have any sexual
connotation.

THEIR DANCE
Their dance have religious origin
and it varies depending on where
tribes are situated. They have the
Bungkul which is a traditional
dance, but the well known dance
is the fire dance. The fire dance is
a sacred dance.

They are religious and believe in

God. They think that they are
different from others. They do not
like to associate with others
because they do not want to lose
their culture.

Contributions to the world

Cochlear implants (bionic ear)
Pacemakers
Google Maps

Australian and American

Relations
ANZUS Treaty
Military support
Free Trade Agreement

Evolution of cultural
expression
A) First people- The Australian Aboriginal culture represents
the oldest surviving culture in the world today. The aboriginal
is a Modern man evolved in Africa about 190,000 years ago,
who eventually come to the Australia in 60,000 years ago. The
word aborigine (with a little a) means one of the original
native inhabitants of any country.

B) The aboriginals are spiritual people with no intentions of

harm. They were always into dance and spiritual aspect of it
never wanted to change their culture that was older that the
stone age and relatively isolated them from the rest of the
world. Although lacking a formal written language, for
thousands of years the aborigines have recorded their culture
as rock art.

Changes
A) The Aboriginal culture were unchanged by
European influence for many decades up until in the
1940s and the last traditional nomadic families
moved away and settle to in the desert regions in the
1960. Over the past thousands of years, the
aboriginal cultural style ceased or changed to
European contact and passed down through
generations and they were then considered
traditions. They come to develop the spear thrower,
and new stone tool technology.

B)

Accumulation of Dance
Accumulation: meaning of something that was gradually gathered.

Ancestral heroes.
Express clan rights
1960s - 70s Aboriginals revitalize their culture and dance.
o Yelang Dancers and the Torres Strait Island Dance Group in South
Brisbane

Oppression or
privilege today

Most Aboriginal communities

still live in squalor, subject to
discrimination,
unemployment and denial of
basic services.

Conclusion
In conclusion, we can appreciate how their
culture never really changed. They managed
to hold onto their culture even when facing
others trying to eliminate them.

Sources

http://jashm.press.illinois.edu/7.3/7-3Australia_Williams143-153.pdf

http://ozoutback.com.au/Australia/abdancent/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_in_Australia

http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/culture/amusic2.php

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AustraliaUnited_States_relations

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Clark_(doctor)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cardiac_pacemaker

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-indigenous-ceremony

NOTES

Aboriginal people are very religious and spiritual

each group generally believes in a number of different deities,

Aboriginal people do not believe in animism. This is the belief that all natural objects possess a soul.

Dance is learnt and passed down from one generation to another.

To dance is to be knowledgeable about the stories of the ancestral heroes.

This allows large groups of people to demonstrate their clan rights in front of an audience.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, 'urban Aboriginal people were looking at revitalising their culture' through
the Yelang Dancers and the Torres Strait Island Dance Group in South Brisbane.