Sacred and ceremonial dance
The corroboree
An English word for the ceremonies of song, dance and body painting through which Aboriginal Australians keep law, story and country.
Presented by ClearTrust Free for dancers, travellers and the curious.
Corroboree is the term outsiders have long used for an Aboriginal gathering with dance and song. It comes from a word of the Dharug people of the Sydney region, picked up by British settlers and then applied across the continent. Aboriginal nations have their own names for their own ceremonies, and many people prefer those. What the word points to is real and living: dance as the carrying of knowledge.
What it is
In Aboriginal traditions, song, dance, painted design and story belong together. A ceremony may retell the journey of an ancestral being who shaped the land, and the dancers take on that being's movements: the brolga, the kangaroo, the wind, the tide. Bodies are painted with ochre and clay in designs that belong to a clan. Singers keep time with clapsticks, and in the north with the didgeridoo. To perform a dance is to show a right to the story and the place.
Where it comes from
These traditions are tens of thousands of years old and are held to come from the ancestral time often called the Dreaming in English. There are hundreds of Aboriginal nations, with different languages and laws, so there is no single form. Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land speak of bunggul. Desert peoples of the centre speak of inma. Colonisation banned or broke up ceremony in many regions. Communities have kept it, revived it, and made new dances for new events.
How it works
Some ceremony is open. People perform it at festivals, funerals, welcomes and public events, and visitors may watch. Much is restricted: to initiated men, to women, or to those with the right kinship ties. Who may sing, dance, paint a design or even see it is set by law, and elders decide. Public gatherings such as the Garma festival in Arnhem Land and the Laura dance festival in Cape York bring many groups together to dance for each other.
If you go
- Attend a public festival run by an Aboriginal organisation, and follow its visitor guide.
- At a Welcome to Country, listen. It is a formal act by traditional owners.
- Ask which nation's country you are on and which group is dancing.
- Buy tickets and art through community-owned bodies, so the money reaches the performers.
Good manners
- Use the name the performers use for their ceremony.
- Photograph only where organisers say you may. Some dances must not be recorded.
- Do not ask about secret or sacred matters, and do not copy designs or steps.
- Be aware that images and names of people who have died can cause distress.
What is danced
Sources and further reading
Original text by the Ghungroo desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs vary from place to place. If we have something wrong, tell us.