Here's
a great night out for the gimmer tourist community... how about a two course international buffet
whilst learning about bush tucker and spear throwing, followed by performance by
an aboriginal dance troupe. This is the Red Centre experience...
What
looked like becoming a naff night out for gullible sheep like tourists believing
they were watching genuine ancient culture actually turns out to be a great
evenings entertainment - though not due to cultural content... Its not that the show
does a bad job of opening a window on aboriginal art,
hunting methods and dance. Its just that the westernisation of the show
makes it rather comical.
First we were treated to the ladies (all bare to the waist and wearing brand
new Nike trainers) showing us their traditional 'paddle the
canoe' dance, this involves pretending to paddle a canoe. Erm, thats it
really... This would have been exceedingly boring had it not been for the
frantic 'stop, stop' arm waving of lead dancer Shirley half way through... apparently
the master of ceremonies had put on the wrong tape!
While their names (Ken, John, Kevin,
Shirley etc.) do not sound particularly authentic, the show is genuinely hosted
by true Aborigines.
In
fairness, the ladies dance was a recent addition, and the men's performance
which followed was clearly better rehearsed - we
were treated to a dozen or so traditional dances (including the audience
participation 'birdy dance') all of which were fully explained in terms of
spiritual and cultural significance. How the hell the birdy dance made it
into Aborigine culture I'll never know, or perhaps they introduced it to
westerners? Hmm...
Any road up, it was a cracking night out, made special by the amateur 'have a go' add on
performers to the original male dance show. Good on ya Shirley!
