Literature Review
One of my research questions is;
How would you define confidence? (what is confidence?) It’s a broad question,
of which I will break down to ‘How would you define confidence in dance
performance?’ and ‘How would you define confidence in the study of dance?
[child learning]’. But for my literature review, I’ve kept the question open to
help my understanding of confidence.
“..confidence is about belief in
one’s abilities, taking action and being optimistic...The most commonly used
terms (for
confidence) by psychologists are: self-esteem, self-efficacy and optimism” [from
Defining Confidence’, Centre for Confidence and Well-being]
The fact that
the word confidence means ‘with faith’, fits very well with the excerpt from
‘Defining Confidence’. The word Belief is a synonym of the word Faith.
The first
extract is from a professional source and gives a basis of the word, which
therefore, makes me believe that confidence can
be an illusion for the individual with
the confidence and the person who views it - within the mind and physically.
This idea brings me back to my audition days, where I would see other dancers
and performers oozing with confidence, and then when it came to their
performance, some of them would perform really well, but their technique would
be dreadful. The belief and faith that they are good all-rounders gets them the
jobs. We dancers often say; ‘The audition process is very unfair,’ which in
theory, as a whole, is very true. We train so hard to get our technique up to
scratch when really, most Casting Directors out there, want performers who
radiate confidence (and look good.)
I do believe
that it is the dance training and
performing that makes this confidence come to life. But have these over
confident dancers only ever been complimented? Perhaps, more so, from when they
were young children. If so, I don’t believe that they would cope well in the
normal world. There must be a balance of how much dance teachers compliment
students and how much they give constructive criticism. My fear is that these
over confident dancers, mentioned above, started dancing lessons because of low
self-confidence. Perhaps the dance teacher gave too many compliments of which
drove them to becoming overly confident. This is what I desperately want to
avoid as a teacher. One of my questions is; ‘How should a dance teacher speak
to a child with low self-confidence? (the children who don’t socialize, are
really quiet, shy or get upset when they get anything wrong.)’ I want to help children with low
self-confidence to have the three terms mentioned in ‘Defining Confidence’
above; self-esteem, self-efficacy and optimism, but not just for their dancing,
but for their home and social life too. I want to refrain from making children
grow up arrogant, which can be associated with these three terms.
Trying to get a
deeper view on the three terms used by psychologists, I found a book at the
library on psychology; The Science and Mind of Behaviour by Nigel Holt, Andy
Bremner, Ed Sutherland, Michael Vliek, Michael Passer and Ronald Smith. I found
these three statements:
“Self–esteem refers to an
individual’s sense of self-worth, or the extent to which the individual
appreciates, values or likes him or herself (Blascovich and Tomaka, 1991.)” [p. 516, chapter 14]
“Self-efficacy…represents people’s
belief that they have the capability to perform behaviours that will produce a
desired outcome” [p.267, chapter 7]
“Optimism is characterized by a
general feeling of being able to cope with any
situation…Optimistic people are better and more flexible at coping with
stressful life experiences…” [p. 618, chapter 16]
All of these
qualities will come up again in further research and I will merge them into the
questions for some of my participants. I think it could be difficult for dance
lessons alone to encourage all of these attributes, but I don’t think it’s
impossible. From the extracts, I understand that Optimism is more for what life
can throw at you, especially the bad things. This is a healthy quality/skill to have,
especially as a child. Some children have tough childhoods, thus making them
pessimistic and having low self-esteem, depending on their individual home
life.
Purely based on
opinion at this point in my research, and splitting confidence into the three
terms, I believe that dance performance can help children with low
self-efficacy mostly, and dance classes can help children with low self-esteem
mostly. The children who are pessimistic would benefit more from dance
performance as it’s probably one of the scariest things to comprehend, hence
causing stress, compared to a dance lesson. I believe the more performances a
child can undertake, the better they can cope with other, less stressful
experiences.
The next few
extracts are related to a couple of my questions; ‘How do we come to experience
confidence?’ and ‘What activities are there that can boost a child’s
confidence?’ The excerpts below give an essence into how we experience
confidence from social interaction and an idea that perhaps the most effective
activities, for encouraging self-confidence, should involve interaction:
“…within ten minutes my (eight year old) daughter
was riding her bicicle. Inspired by how quickly she took to it, my twelve year
old son asked if he could give it a try and within ten minutes, he was riding
his bike….My daughter’s confidence rubbed off on her brother…..Confidence can
be incredibly contagious…”[from ‘Is Confidence Contagious? by G. Federico, 2013]
“When you’re talking to a friend who
is really anxious, worried or panicky, how do you feel when you’re with them –
anxious and worried for them? When you’re around someone excited, happy and
raring to go – do you feel that with them? The same applies to your audience –
if you’re anxious, your audience will feel it too; if you’re excited and can’t
wait to dance for them, they’re going to feel that energy and really want to
support you.” [from ‘Dance with Confidence,’ Author unknown.]
“..dance is a community of children with similar goals,
led by teachers who are passionate about seeing them succeed. As part of the community,
children are inspired to excel in their personal goals and also to encourage
those around them. This creates an atmosphere where your child will have
increased self-confidence and they in turn, will help others in reaching new
levels of self-confidence.” [from ‘How Dance Can Improve
Self Confidence in Children’, author known as Sammi at
Soul Connexion, 2014]
There is a
similar pattern with the three excerpts which involves the notion or idea that
confidence is infectious. So even if I were to act confidently, the confidence can be spread or mirrored to the
point where the person or child who’s mirroring my confident manner will start
to feel confident too. I believe though, that this sense of confidence could be temporary. I think it can be a
false sense of confidence. However, the extract from ‘How Dance Can Improve
Self Confidence in Children,’ basis the contagious confidence more on children
interacting with other children, each having similar goals and helping each
other grow in confidence. Copying confidence, hence starting to feel confident
from somebody else at that moment in time will probably help a little, but only
in that moment of time. There’s a reason for this belief as this related, very
slightly, to my research into music in dance for confidence and my participant
question; ‘Is music valuable for improving confidence, and if so; what type of
music?’
“Use inspiring and motivational
music to pump up yourself…before anything that might make your confidence
unstable. This works pretty well as a temporary state-booster.”[from Top 24 Tips for Making
Your Self Confidence Soar, by Henrik Edberg, 2007]
So this excerpt
of advice provides the idea that uplifting/encouraging music boosts confidence
temporarily. It’s something that can make you feel good about yourself;
something to encourage self-esteem and optimism, but not long-term. But is this true for all music and true for
children?
“Music is a wonderful way to address
the many needs of children because music is non-judgemental…Listening to
different types of music nurtures self-esteem and encourages creativity,
self-confidence and curiousity.” [from The Importance of Music
for Children, by Jackie Silberg]
Here, Silberg;
an early childhood advocate, keynote speaker and children song writer
extraordinaire, is saying that music helps develop children in different ways,
not just for their self-esteem and confidence. I believe that creative children
have high self-esteem and a sufficient amount of self-efficacy. Silberg says
that music encourages curiousity, but I believe we are all born curious, so I
believe that the extract is referring to children who’ve lost a sense of their
own curiousity.
So if a variety
of music nurtures children’s all-round confidence, perhaps the temporary state
of feeling confident from seeing somebody else being confident can actually help develop confidence in
children more long-term, though I still believe that it’s not as helpful as
interaction with other children who perhaps carry a sense of confidence. This
is something I’ll look into further.
“Dance…has strong effects on
physiological and psychological well-being, combining the benefits of physical
exercise with heightened sensory awareness, cognitive function, creativity,
inter-personal contact and emotional expression – a potent cocktail.” [from The Use of Dance in
Child Psychiatry (Journal), p. 4, by Rachel Elliott,
1998]
This extract by
Rachel Elliott, a freelance dance artist and Education officer, gives the idea
that dance is highly effective for self-confidence, which is great for my
project. I believe all the human qualities mentioned are big parts of being
confident or in self-esteem, self-efficacy or optimism on a psychologists view.
I think the more you use these skills within dance, the more they come into
effect at home and in social life.
“As children adjust to the movements
and postures required in dance, they begin to get a better sense of their
bodies. As they become more comfortable in their own skin, their confidence and
self-esteem also improve…dance lessons can encourage children to foster a more
positive attitude and explore their own self-expression.” [from The Benefits of Dance
for Kids, by Rebecca Lake, 2013]
These
two excerpts give different approaches on the subject of ‘posture’. Both
articles give the sense that posture is valuable for improving confidence, one
being more about the effect on confidence from movement and posture over a
period of time, whereas the second extract gives the theory that posture can
affect confidence straight away. Lake; a writer for Livestrong, states how
children grow in confidence by becoming more accustomed to their bodies from
the postures and movements. This is about physical enhancement and being better
aware of what their bodies can do, therefore gaining a new sense of confidence.
Briñol, Petty and Wagner; psychologists,
are talking about the instant effects of a good posture, how it encourages the
feeling of being confident. I believe both theories can be merged together and
actually, indirectly, gives me an idea for an answer to one of my participant
questions; ‘Which dance style is most likely to be recommended for a child who
lacks in confidence and why?’ There is one style of dance that is well-known
for posture which is Ballet. Of course there is more to building confidence
than just a good posture. Ballet does involve emotional expression, strong
sensory awareness and inter-personal contact of which were mentioned earlier in
the extract by Rachel Elliott. It also brings me back to Music and how Silberg
said that a variety of different music encourages self-confidence. Ballet is
commonly danced to one genre; classical, but classical/ballet music can be
soft, strong, emotional or quick. It’s tricky to determine the outcome of the
answers I will get for this question as I believe that it can depend on experience,
but if I were to answer my own question from just the literature research I
have done so far, I would say Ballet is the best dance style for children who
lack in self-confidence.
“Dance and
movement activities help children become more aware of their bodies and learn
gross motor skills of coordination and control. Increased self-awareness and
improved physical skills promote confidence and a raised sense of self-esteem.” Dance
and Social Development in Preschool Children by Julie Vickers, 2013]
This
statement by Julie Vickers; a writer in health and parenting, backs up the
statement by Rebecca Lake about children gaining physical enhancement and being
better aware of what their bodies can do in dance, gaining a new sense of
confidence. One of my participant questions is; ‘Why do a lot of parents choose
to take their children to dance classes to boost their child’s confidence? Why
dance?’ If I were to compare dance lessons to other movement activities
such as gymnastics or net ball, I would say that dance is more of an
all-rounder. It offers the qualities that gymnastics or net ball could improve,
but more. So perhaps this is a reason for parent’s choosing dance. Dance
includes; physical activity, music, social activities, the building of
self-awareness, spatial awareness, chance to be creative, emotional expression
and more, and so far in my research, these all help build a child’s self-confidence.
Another
answer to ‘why dance?’ Is in the following extract;
“For some
children, the first time they have been seen to smile is following their
admission in dance….The inherent joy and ‘aliveness’ of dance is highly
contagious and uplifting, the restorative power of which should not be
underestimated.” [from The Use
of Dance in Child Psychiatry,
p. 5, by Rachel Elliott, 1998]
Elliott’s theory of dance having this
restorative power, is highly agreeable, and I believe the same goes for music,
but more subtle. Parents might have heard from other parents about changes
they’ve seen in their children since going to dance classes, hence inspiring
them to give it a try with their own child.
“It is
important that you encourage your young child to engage in a variety of social
activities so that they can develop good, confident social skills as they are
growing up.” [from Overcoming your
child’s shyness and social anxiety (book,) p. 172-3, by Lucy Willetts and Cathy
Creswell, 2007]
“If
your child is shy, enrolling her in dance an encourage her to reach out to
other children her age and help to reduce her anxiety about new people or
places. Dance can also help to alleviate fears related to performing in front
of an audience.” [from The
Benefits of Dance for Kids, by Rebecca
Lake, 2013]
The
excerpts above relate to confidence because shy children seem to have very low
self efficacy and are quite pessimistic, referring to the psychologists terms
for confidence. From other articles and
theories talked about above, social skills are developed through dance classes
whether it’s being creative in groups, helping each other and seeing other
children showing confidence in their dancing. Although, if a child is really
shy and anxious, I don’t believe that forceful encouragement would be the best
thing to do. I think some children may need to get past a few fears at home
and/or at nursery school. One of my inquiry questions is; ‘Are confidence
issues a main concern for younger children aged around four and five?’ Well now
I think it could be even younger. I haven’t been able to find anything that
relates to this, but I think this is a question for opinion from dance teachers
and on a science level by psychologists.
Here
Sammi suggests that performing AND practicing in front of others builds
confidence. This is something I had forgotten about in my own experience in the
dance class. Again, I strongly agree with this as I was very uncomfortable
being the centre of attention when I was about three – five years old, and I do
remember how my annual dance shows got easier and easier, and I actually felt
comfortable. Today, being on the stage is one of the most comfortable places to
be. I have a lot of none-dancer friends who never went to dance classes or
clubs, and now, today they can’t even bring themselves up to dancing on a dance
floor until they’ve had a drink or two, or karaoke, and even simple things like
going to take a photo with a famous landmark with a lot of people watching.
It’s actually amazing to think about and now I am so grateful to my own mother
for taking me to dance classes and completely changing me for the better.
Building
confidence is something that takes time and effort for those who don’t have it.
“Confidence
is like a mental muscle, like muscle, everyone is born with it, not everyone
flexes it…and if you want your muscles to grown stronger, you’ve got to
exercise.” [from How to Build Self Confidence, by Michelle Phan, 2014]
Is
everybody born with confidence?
“All
children are born confident; they even think that they are the center of the
world and that everybody is there to serve them.” [from How to
Gain Self Confidence, by Farouk Radwan]
Radwan;
a psychologist, says that it is true that we are born confident. So children
who are not confident, have lost it somehow. That would make my research go
into a completely different direction, so I will refrain myself from going into
‘How children lose their confidence?’
My research is the opposite.
