Resource to accompany scheme of work from TD Autumn 1 10/11
Aboriginal Dreamtime
An introduction
Year 12 IB Theatre Arts
Defining the ‘dreamtime’
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All things began with it
It continues to co-exist with our ‘now’ time
It is all things past, present and future
It is sacred
It is the ‘time before time’
It is the ‘time outside time’
It is the ‘time of creation of all things’
What it means to indigenous people
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Belief system
Moral teaching
Spiritual code
Making sense of the world
They belong to the dreamtime
History and tradition
Identity – often linked to animals and plants
The connection with the land
One belief was that, before animals, humans
and plants were created, there were souls who
knew that they would become physical, but did
not know when.
When the time was right, they all said: ‘we
will do our very best to try to help the one that
takes care of us all.’ Then they all became animals
or plants. The last soul became the human.
That is why aboriginals all respect the
environment and want to be at one with nature
because they are their friends.
The purpose of dreamtime stories
• To explain the world – how the birds got
their colour; how the tortoise lost its tale;
how the black snake became poisonous.
• To teach – where the water holes are, how
to navigate using the stars.
• To connect with their totemic ancestors
Links to western culture
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Bible stories
Aesop’s fables
Fairy tales
Grimm tales
Creationism
Fundamental differences
• The myths are ‘real’
• Dreams and ‘real life’ co-exist
Performance elements
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Initiation/ritual
Meme – passing down
Motif
Songs/soundscape
Dances
Poetry
Paintings and sculpture
Dreamtime as theatre
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Total theatre – music, image, word
Storytelling tradition
Evolves as art evolves
Communal
Social function