The Effect of Providing Creative Dance Education on Early Childhood Self-Confidence at TK/Mother's Daycare Center

This qualitative study investigates how teaching creative dance impacts children's self-confidence at Ibunda Kindergarten. The phenomenological method was used in this study to understand children's perceptions and experiences during the creative dance program. Participatory observation, in-depth interviews and document analysis were the methods used to collect data. The study involved 15 early childhood children from Ibunda Kindergarten. The results showed that teaching children creative dance increased their own self-confidence. Creation dance teaches social skills, working together in a group, and self-expression. They also showed increased initiative and independence. The findings confirm that arts education is an important component of the early childhood education curriculum as it can help with psychosocial development


INTRODUCTION
Early childhood education is essential for shaping a child's personality, intelligence and social behavior.Creative dance offers a unique and interactive way to support children's development among various educational approaches.The purpose of this study was to find out how creative dance teaching impacts children's selfconfidence at Ibunda Kindergarten.Self-confidence is an important component in children's social and emotional development, affecting how they interact, communicate and fit into their social environment (Damayanti et al., 2023).
At Ibunda Kindergarten, the teaching of creative dance has shown an increase in early childhood self-confidence.Self-confidence in education not only reflects children's ability to believe in their own abilities, but also affects their readiness for learning and social interaction.Providing children with opportunities for free and creative expression through creative dance is an important part of developing self-confidence Ashar & Pamungkas, 2023)..At Ibunda Kindergarten, creative dance teaches children in a fun and interactive way.Children build respect and acceptance of individual uniqueness by learning how to appreciate their own body movements and those of others.Children also learn to move in groups and work together in this activity.They not only improve their motor skills, but also learn about the importance of working together and supporting each other as a result of this experience.
In addition, creation dance allows children to take the initiative and decide how they want to express a story or emotion through movement.Children become more independent and confident when making decisions because of this freedom.This process is carried out by Ibunda Kindergarten teachers by providing support and positive feedback, which increases children's sense of success and achievement.
Overall, teaching creative dance has proven to be an effective method to help young children become more confident.It not only enhances their learning experience, but also prepares them with social and emotional skills that will be beneficial throughout their lives.Therefore, to support children's holistic development, Ibunda Kindergarten can consider incorporating creative dance education into their curriculum on a regular basis.

RESEARCH METHOD
This study was designed to measure the effect of creative dance education on early childhood self-confidence at Ibunda Kindergarten.The approach used is a qualitative method, which allows researchers to explore and understand the subjective experiences of learners.Research Design This study uses a case study design, which focuses on an in-depth analysis of selected cases in their real context (Lubis & Ritonga, 2023;Lubis, 2024).The participants of this study are early childhood children who attend the creative dance education program at Ibunda Kindergarten.Participants were selected based on predetermined inclusion criteria, such as age and involvement in the dance program.
Data was collected through several techniques: In-depth Interviews: Conducted with teachers, parents, and children to gain diverse perspectives on their experiences.Observation: The researcher made direct observations during the creative dance sessions, recording the children's interactions and participation.Documentation: Collected artifacts such as videos, photos, and records of the children's creative dance activities.
To discover key themes and patterns emerging from the data, narrative analysis will be used.This analysis will help understand how this research aims to gain a thorough understanding of how creative dance education impacts on early childhood self-confidence (Ritonga et al., 2022).It also aims to provide recommendations for curriculum and teaching approaches for Ibunda Kindergarten.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The results showed that there was a significant difference between the confidence scores of early childhood in the experimental group before and after being taught creative dance.These results suggest that providing creative dance education can help young children at Ibunda Kindergarten/RA improve their self-confidence.The study found that teachers who taught early childhood at Ibunda Kindergarten had a positive effect on their self-confidence when they were taught creative dance for 8 weeks.In the self-confidence test, before and after the intervention, the experimental group (who received creative dance education) and the control group (who did not receive creative dance education) had significantly different scores.Five-to six-year-old children's selfconfidence is one of the many problems identified in Ibunda Kindergarten.Children who were apprehensive about dancing with others, were isolated from the group, lacked confidence, and could not even finish their dance to the end.So it is important for teachers to help children who lack confidence to join the creation dance.The following solutions can be used such as building a comfortable and safe learning environment, providing support and motivation, improving children's abilities and skills, and building confidence through experience (Kurniasih, 2021).

Art Education
"Art" can be defined as beauty, pleasure and entertainment.When we hear the word "art", we may think of works of art such as paintings, music, buildings, or other beautiful things made by an artist who is obviously very creative and talented.Imitation and expression are two types of art.Education is a conscious and planned effort to create an environment and learning process in which students actively develop their potential to have religion, self-control, personality, intelligence, noble character, and skills needed for themselves, society, nation, and state.Education is a way for humans to adapt to cultural changes and challenges of the times for their own survival.Art education programs aim to enhance students' creativity, sensitivity and aesthetic sense through their involvement in the arts and increase their social, moral and cultural awareness in community life.Education is a human effort to improve their personality through the development of their personal potential, namely spiritual potential, which includes the potential of thought, karsa, rasa, cipta, and conscience.Art education is an educational process with art as its medium.Art education is an important component of education as a whole because art is a strategic and effective part of efforts to glorify humanity (Kurniasih, 2021).
Arts education aims to make students good individuals by teaching them to enjoy and make things.This is achieved through the development of students' creativity, aesthetic sensibilities, and social and cultural awareness, as well as the development of their ethics and social awareness of their social life.The concept of art education aims to build ideal human beings by cultivating aesthetic and artistic sensibilities so that students understand and appreciate art.Art also has a great impact on the mental and physical development of students studying in schools.Art education can even change students' behavior for the better because art can teach them the values and traditions of society.Art education helps or influences a person's creativity.Consequently, arts education involves all forms of physical activity as well as expression, exploration, appreciation and creation through the language of form, sound, movement and role (visual arts, music, dance and theater).According to art education experts, every art process always undergoes four steps.Sensing, imagining, recognizing, and media are some of them (Damayanti et al., 2023).
Art education serves to shape children's attitudes and personalities by utilizing mental functions such as fantasy, sensitivity, creativity, and expression.Children can fantasize about their artwork through their feelings pouring their ideas into their work, making them sensitive, creative, and expressing their work.According to Emanuel Kant, art is through beauty and art education is rationalization.Its beauty can be measured with certain tools and as needed.Structure, balance, and meaning are some of the ways to understand beauty.These three are the basis for making art.Art is the result or process of human work and ideas involving skill, creativity, sensory sensitivity, sensitivity of the heart, and mind to produce a work that has the impression of beauty, harmony and artistic value.
Learning art means understanding and expressing aesthetics in works of art.Understanding aesthetics is the process of objectifying aesthetics through the senses of taste and mind.The method of constructivism helps students learn art or aesthetics by giving them the opportunity to see works of art firsthand.They will be able to feel the beauty of the process, form, and results of imitating or copying artworks.Beauty is objectified symbols because although it can be felt, it is difficult to say with the language of words rather than the language of symbols (Damayanti et al., 2023).
Thus, it can be concluded that art education is associated with the beauty of the artwork that one creates.Children can incorporate their ideas into artworks through their own experiences.Art education has the ability to enhance both right and left brain functions.In this study, art education is painting.In painting, expression is expressed through symbols that have meaning for the work created.Art education develops fantasy, sensitivity, creativity and expression.In order for children to develop optimally, art education must be instilled from an early age.

Purpose and Function of Art Education
The development of a child's personality and creativity is greatly influenced by art education.Its main objective is to encourage students to enhance their sensitivity of taste, creativity and aesthetic appreciation when making art.This includes building students' social awareness, cultural awareness and ethics in community life.
According to Tumurang (2006), the function of art education is as a medium of expression, where expression is defined as the expression of feelings that have a tendency to think creatively and imaginatively.This is very much in line with the character of children who do not dare to show feelings.Arts education also helps children develop their creative expression and artistic potential through the transfer of learning and values from other fields.

Dance Creation
Creative dance for early childhood is an art activity that involves body movement and rhythm and is designed to support different aspects of child development.Here are some key points creative dance for early childhood: 1. Kinesthetic Intelligence Development: Creative dance can help children's kinesthetic intelligence development.Children organize their body movements to learn to follow the rhythm of the music.2. Creative Activities: Creative dance can include moving freely to the rhythm of music or instruments, moving and stopping, dancing with the movements of animals, plants, robots, vehicles, and so on, or dancing with various patterns.3. Example of Creative Dance: Creative Dance with Environmental Themes-Menyaga Kebersihan, Apuse Creation Dance, and Jaranan Dance are some popular examples of creation dance for early childhood.Each dance has different movements and themes, so children can learn different topics while moving and dancing.Overall, creative dance is a great way to help young children develop physically, emotionally and cognitively.Dance can also be a fun and interactive way to learn different topics and concepts.

Early Childhood Self-Confidence
Self-confidence in early childhood is a belief or desire to do something for oneself that consists of belief in one's abilities, optimistic, objective, responsible, rational, and realistic.The following are some important points about self-confidence in early childhood: 1. Definition of Self-Confidence: Self-confidence is a person's ability to act well and overcome problems in the most difficult situations. 2. Indicators of Self-Confidence: The following are some examples of behaviors that demonstrate self-confidence: directing or commanding others, using voice quality adapted to the situation, expressing opinions, sitting with others in social activities, working cooperatively in groups, looking at the other person when invited or spoken to, maintaining eye contact during the conversation, initiating friendly relationships with others, and maintaining confidence in oneself.
9. Overcoming Fear and Anxiety: Teachers can help AUDs overcome fears and anxieties that may arise when learning to dance.By providing support and strategies to manage emotions, teachers can help boost the AUD's confidence.10.Provide Role Models: Providing inspiring role models in dance can set a positive example for AUD.Seeing and learning from dance professionals can motivate and boost their confidence.11.Accommodating Individual Needs: Teachers can accommodate the individual needs of AUDs, including special needs or preferences in learning dance.By understanding and responding to their needs, teachers can help build strong self-confidence.12. Organizing Performances or Showcases: Organizing a dance performance or showcase in front of parents or peers can be an opportunity for AUDs to showcase their skills.This can boost their confidence and provide a positive experience.By implementing these efforts with consistency and care, teachers can serve as effective mentors in helping AUDs overcome confidence challenges in participating in creative dance.Because some children have natural confidence (Gardini et al., 2023).Don't be afraid, try new things, and be confident in the face of difficulties.According to the Oxford Advansced Leaner's Dictionary, confidence is the belief that you have the ability to do something and succeed.However, there are also children who lack confidence, are shy, and have difficulty socializing with new people.So, in order for children to improve their confidence and feel confident in their own abilities, they need help and guidance from adults.A child can gain knowledge and confidence by taking part in various activities and participating in certain groups.

CONCLUSION
The results showed that creative dance education has a positive influence on increasing the self-confidence of early childhood at Ibunda Kindergarten.This is shown by the increase in children's average self-confidence scores after being taught creative dance.Several aspects show this increase in self-confidence.For example, children became more courageous to speak in front of their friends and were not shy to show their abilities.Ability to make choices: Children dare to try new things and are more independent in making decisions.Ability to solve problems: Children are more able to solve problems in a relaxed and confident manner.Ability to interact with others: Children are more sociable with their friends and are not awkward interacting with others.