Wakagetti Cultural Dancers and Bush Yarns: Aboriginal Storytelling and Song

At the start of the Wakagetti Cultural Dancing the lead dancer welcomed the audience by paying his respects to those who have passed, mother earth, the land, and the stars. This continued onto a welcome dance. Traditional aboriginal dancing is a large part of the culture of indigenous tradition. Dancing is often used in rituals and ceremonies. These dances represent many key parts of aboriginal beliefs and lifestyles. I particularly enjoyed the aboriginal style of dance. All of the dances were simple and repetitive. The movements in many of the dances were representative of the behaviors of various animals. They all told stories and showed a connection to nature. Lots of jumping and shaking movements are incorporated into the dancing to help energize the body and wake the spirit. I found it interesting that boomerangs were used as musical instruments by slapping two boomerangs together. Chanting and making animal noises to go along with the dances were also incorporated into the musical aspect of the dancing.

The next dance I watched was dedicated to the mother, father, and ancestors. In this dance the two aboriginal dancers showed displays of a lizard, kangaroo, emu, and echidna. The following dance was a dance only performed by men. The dancers got all of the men in the audience to come and dance with them. This dance was a display of the four families of the kangaroo: the baby, mum, dad, and granddad. This showed how the kangaroo senses its natural predator, the dingo.

Another dance performed was called Red Breast Robin Bird. The story goes that the rainbow serpent travels through the land creating rivers along the way. While doing this the rainbow serpent ruins the homes of the red breast robin bird. The birds are obviously very upset by this horrible act by the rainbow serpent so they chase him down and kill him. After they kill the rainbow serpent, the birds cut him up into pieces and share these pieces amongst the rest of the red breast robin birds. This dance is a celebration for killing the rainbow serpent.

Aboriginal dance is passed down from generation to generation. The main performer started off one performance by thanking his grandmother for it. While talking to him after the show we discussed the meaning of the body paint he was wearing. He told me that he used the body paint to think of his grandfather who works with dolphins. His paint represented the dolphin. His belly was lighter than his back, he had five dots on his stomach like dolphins, and he created eyes on his face. He explained to me that he changes his body art day by day based on his feelings. Some days he paints his body in a way that makes him more in touch with the dances and makes him dance with more energy. Everyday he paints three lines on his body; one line for his mother, one for his father, and the last for his ancestors. I particularly enjoyed talking to him because he had a deep-rooted connection to his family and culture but also showed an interest with the modern world. We ended up talking about American basketball for a long time. He made a comment that Derek Rose needs to up his physio to help the Bulls out this season (which I liked, being a Chicago Bulls fan all my life). He had a great spirit and felt he had the best job in the world.

My favorite dance was called Little Lost Boy, a play dance. The dancers called a young boy up from the audience to help, making it really come to life. The story goes that when little boys grow up under the care of the mother they do not learn how to survive on their own. When they are old enough, they decide to wander into the sunset. Eventually the boys become very lost and give up on finding their way home. They sit down in the dirt and decide to wait until they are found. The mother gets worried when she cannot find her boys and when she finds them at last she dances this dance in celebration.

When the story telling dances finished the dancers did a farewell song and dance. They pay their respects to lost ones in this dance as well. The dancers did not say goodbye because this word is not used in aboriginal culture. This is because they do not say goodbye when people die, because their spirit lives on and they will see that person again.

At the Bush Yarns I learned about aboriginal tools used for hunting and in daily life. I first learned about the boomerang and how the style of boomerangs very from region to region. The clan living near Uluru does not use the traditional returning boomerang shaped like a V. The boomerang used here is made from a Mulga tree and just has a slight bend. The Mulga tree is very strong and well adapted to fire. The boomerang is used to skillfully slice through prey. Different tribes have boomerangs with different patterns carved on them.

Next, I learned about the spear and spear thrower. The spear is very long, taller than myself, skinny, and bendy. Spears made of soft wood hardly looked convincing enough to kill a kangaroo but when the guide threw it into the grass and I went to pull it out I couldn’t believe how deep it had gone. The spear thrower is used to catch big prey like kangaroos and emus but not for animals like turkey because not that much power is needed. Every spear has a peg at the end of it so that when a hunter spears its prey the peg will keep the spear in the animal, moving it deeper and deeper into its body when the animal moves.

Lastly, I was showed the club and shield. These weapons can be used in one-on-one combat but not in big battles amongst many men. The narrow length of the shield surprised me, as it hardly looks protective. This is because it is more commonly used as a sign of peace. When clans travel they hold up their shields to tell other clans that they come in peace. The front of each shield has a design for the clan describing skin type, language, and where you’re from.

Aboriginal culture is still full of many of the same traditions but has modernized a lot over time. Today, aboriginal people live in houses and have jobs to make money to survive. Traditions are passed on through generations but spears and dances are no longer used today for the same purposes. Although the aboriginal dances I saw were authentic they are not used for ritual purposes. Similarly, spears and boomerangs are no longer made for hunting. They are made for commercial purposes instead. When making spears and boomerangs today the youngest are still taught by their brothers how to properly throw one, passing on the culture and tradition.

Aboriginal culture is much more authentic in central Australia than it is on the coast because English settlers moved inland one hundred years after arriving on the coasts of Australia. After a hundred years in Australia, English settlers and aboriginal people started to respect one another more. Therefore, by the time the settlers moved to central Australia they had much better, less destructive relations with the native people. The clans around Ayers Rock are a great example of aboriginal culture and I am enjoying being immersed in it.