The Story of Dreamtime

Below is the working script we have for the story of Dreamtime from Australia. I am hoping to make this a very rhythmic piece, and perhaps incorporate some dancers to play the ancestors:

The Story of Dreamtime
Characters: Narrators 1, 2, & 3,Ancestors & Animals

Narrator 1: When the earth was newborn, it was plain and without any features or life.
Narrator 2:Waking time and sleeping time were the same. There were only hollows on the surface of the Earth, which, one day, would become waterholes.
Narrator 3: Around the waterholes were the ingredients of life.
Narrator 1: Underneath the crust of the earth were the stars and the sky, the sun and the moon, as well as all the forms of life, all sleeping.
Narrator 2: The tiniest details of life were present, yet dormant: the head feathers of a cockatoo, the thump of a kangaroo’s tail, the gleam of an insect’s wing.
Narrator 3: A time came when time itself split apart, and sleeping time separated from waking time. This moment was called the Dreamtime. At this moment everything started to burst into life.
Narrator 2: The sun rose through the surface of the Earth and shone warm rays onto the hollows, which became waterholes.
Narrator 3: Under each waterhole lay an Ancestor, an ancient man or woman who had been asleep through the ages.
Narrator 1: The sun filled the bodies of each Ancestor with light and life, and the Ancestors began to give birth to children.
Narrator 2: Their children were all the living things of the world, from the tiniest grub wriggling on a eucalyptus leaf to the broadest-singed eagle soaring in the blue sky.
Narrator 3: Rising from the waterholes, the Ancestors stood up with mud falling from their bodies. As the mud slipped away, the sun opened their eyelids and they saw the creatures they had made from their own bodies.
Narrator 1: Each Ancestor gazed at his creation in pride and wonderment. Each Ancestor sang out with joy…
Ancestors: I am!
Narrator 2: One Ancestor sang…
Kangaroo: I am kangaroo!
Cockatoo: I am Cockatoo!
Honey Ant: I am Honey-Ant!
Lizard: I am Lizard!
(Other Animals sing out too – and the animals can be changed)
Narrator 3: As they sang, naming their own creations, they began to walk. Their footsteps and their music became one, calling all living things into being and weaving them into life with song.
Narrator 2: The ancestors sang their way all around the world. They sang the rivers to the valleys and the sand into dunes, the trees into leaf and the mountains to rise above the plain. As they walked they left a trail of music and of life.
Narrator 1: And, in honor of their Ancestors, the Aborigines of Australia still go on Walkabouts, retracing the steps, and singing the songs that tell the story of life.

Published on September 22, 2008 at 4:21 am  Comments (5)  

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5 CommentsLeave a comment

  1. i am narator one, but i would like to use the name B’Ellana.

  2. I was fooling around with the keyboard in my basement and made up a song that I thought would go well for when the ancestors wake up, but it’s a little repetitive, so I don’t really expect it to be used, but if you want it, I could probably bring it in. Also, since you said we all had to be animals for this one, I am choosing to be a butterfly.

  3. I could be an animal here.
    I either want to be a ratel or a dingo.

  4. a im a bee, but can i chanch to being a fruit fly becaus thats what im being for haloween

  5. If anyone is a cheetah or leopard, and still need a “costume” I have a leopard-print poncho at my house you could wear for the story of dreamtime.


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