Dance in Australia

Dance in Australia includes a very broad variety of styles, from Indigenous Australian to the traditional Australian bush dance and from classical ballet, and ballroom dancing to contemporary dance and multicultural dance traditions from the 200 national backgrounds represented in Australia.

Traditional Indigenous Australian dance was closely associated with song and was understood and experienced as making present the reality of the Dreamtime. In some instances, they would imitate the actions of a particular animal in the process of telling a story. 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. The performances were associated with specific places and dance grounds were often sacred places. The Body decoration and specific gestures related to kin and other relationships (such as to Dream time beings with which individuals and groups). Some Indigenous Australian groups held their dances secret or sacred. Gender was an important factor in some ceremonies with men and women having separate ceremonial traditions.

The term corroboree is commonly used in general Australian culture to refer to Australian Aboriginal dances, however this term has its origins among the people of the Sydney region. In some places, Australian Aboriginal people perform "corroborees" for tourists.

In the latter part of the 20th century the influence of Indigenous Australian dance traditions has been seen with the development of concert dance, particularly in contemporary dance with the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association and the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) providing training to Indigenous Australians in dance and the Bangarra Dance Theatre.

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