152 COSTUME CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN CREATION DANCE IN KINDERGARTEN AT BULELENG BALI Langen Bronto Sutrisno, Luh Suartini, I Gusti Made Budiarta Faculty of Languages and Arts, Ganesha University of Education Ahmad Yani 67 Singaraja, Bali Indonesia E-mail: langenbronto@yahoo.com Received: November 19, 2015. Revised: November 29, 2015. Accepted: December 4, 2015 Abstract Study related to characteristics of costumes worn in Children Creation Dance in kindergarten at Buleleng, Bali is aiming at (1) understanding the characteristics of children creation dance cos- tume in kindergarten at Buleleng, Bali, (2) understanding the aesthetic characteristic of costume of children creation dance in kindergarten at Buleleng, Bali. The research employed qualitative method while the discussion part was presented in descriptive. Data was collected through ob- servation, interview, literature, as well as documentation study. In a general view, characteristic of the costume was still in close proximity to the tradition but some others characteristics have quiet different to the tradition. Aesthetic aspect in dance costume that has adjacency to the tradi- tion is shown in patterned costume, especially the use of kamen prada. The use of colour tends to be bright and cold which may show the atmosphere of happiness and assurance. On the other hand, the characteristics of costume is not traditional tends to emphasize dots and stripes. The impression of dots is shown in the use of sequin while the stripe impession is shown in fabric col- our boundaries. In addition, the colours chosen for this type of costume are considerably similar to the colour chosen in traditional costume of creation dance which are bright and cold and give the impression of happiness and assurance. Keywords: costume; dance creation; children How to Cite: Sutrisno, L., Suartini, L., & Budiarta, I. (2015). Costume Characteristics of Children Creation Dance in Kindergarten at Buleleng Bali. Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education, 15(2), 152-159. doi:http://dx.doi. org/10.15294/harmonia.v15i2.4690 HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 15 (2) (2015), 152-159 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia DOI: 10.15294/harmonia.v15i2.4690 p-ISSN 1411-5115 e-ISSN 2355-3820 zation of the costume, indeed, is hoped to be appropriate with the children mental or physiological development since the dance performed here is usually has been suited to the children’s psychological develop- ment. The form of children dance perfor- med also in line with the development of the era. In addition, for children dance, cre- ation is not only seen from the movement, but also the music accompaniment. Music accompaniment here used here is not only the traditional, but also the modern one. In other words, it can be called as pentatonic or diatonic music. Further, this study is not INTRODUCTION Costume worn in Children Creation Dance for Kindergarten students is a ma- nifestation of artistic expression by teach- ers, parents, and professional fashion sty- lists. If the costume is observed closely, it will be clearly seen that the costume is an artwork produced by adults. It shows the ability in organizing, matching, as well as corresponding the theme of the dance that is going to be danced. Moreover, the abili- ty in shaping the costume into the elegant fashion look is also shown here. Organi- Langen Bronto Sutrisno, et al., Costume Characteristics of Children Creation Dance ... 153 only observe the appearance of the dance costume, but deeper to the costume aesthe- tic characteristics. The analysis of the child costume focuses on kindergarten students in the Buleleng sub - district. Eventhough the costume is an artwork created by adult, however, it is believed that children’s pas- sion of art will be increased here. Also, it is a form of manifestation in implementing a moral message in the dance’s themes. Creating dance costumes are also a form of art practice in the field. Here, te- achers do the activity of expressing arts in special events or occasions for both te- achers and students, i.e. graduation party for kindergarten students. For those oc- casions, teachers do not only practice in arranging costume work by the students, but more to make it looks elegant on stage. Practitioners who are doing the costume for kindergarten commonly do not have an art education background. They usual- ly did PGTK (Kindergarten Teacher Edu- cation Program) or PGPAUD (Early Age Teachers Education Program) for their undergraduate degree. Therefore, result of art expression by kindergarten teachers is considerably needed to be analyzed, es- pecially one related to the costume form. This study is limited to analyze kindergar- ten students in Buleleng, in academic year 2014/ 2015. The study was specifically conducted at the end of the academic year. Preschool education, as in Kinder- garten is a significant education period for children’s early stage development. What children observed, heard, and experienced will be stuck in their memories. In order to support this, the comfort and conformi- ty of the costume for children’s flexibility in moving is considered important. Thus, it is believed that the study related to the costume worn by Kindergarten students in dancing children creation dance is unique and interesting to be studied deeper. METHOD This research employed qualitative method, while the study result was pre- sented in descriptive. The study was re- lated closely to the object of costume art in creation dance. Sampling technique was conducted at TK Negeri Pembina Singara- ja (State Kindergarten of Pembina Singara- ja). This research sampling could be used as the medium in studying the characteris- tic of costume aesthetic that was general- ly typical to represent all kindergartens in Buleleng, Bali. Data was collected by con- ducting observation, interview, literature, as well as documentation study. The data was then analyzed based on the problem statement formulized in this study. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Basic Elements on Children’s Dance Cre- ation Costume Children’s dance creation costume in Buleleng basically had a unique charac- teristic, the developed costume that had traditional elements and the costume that didn’t have traditional elements. The cos- tume that had adjacency to the tradition both for boys and girls usually consisted of headband, t-shirt, kamenprada, short black lagin, and prada belt. Meanwhile, the costume that less traditional was a dress for the girl dancer; shirt and pants for the boy dancer. The costume that had tradi- tional elements usually imitated the local style, or the place where the dance was performed. For example, the pattern of the accessories on the prada resembled Baline- se tradition. The Balinese pattern on the fabric and the beauty of the prada showed that the dance creation was still based on local culture around them. The representa- tion of the Balinese was strongly reflected through the costume. The combination of t-shirt and pants represented the less tradi- tional costume, so the impression reflected in the children’s appearance was the mo- dern children that hopefully didn’t aban- don the tradition. Children’s dance performance that less traditional was another side of Ba- linese. This kind of performance didn’t represent Balinese local culture. The uni- versal performance of the dance didn’t exhibit the culture of the society in which HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 15 (2) (2015): 152-159154 the people were religious and obedience to the tradition. However, both costumes that had adjacency to the tradition and less tra- ditional has their own aesthetic value and characteristic in each performance. The elements of the costume consti- tuent would be analyzed by observing the costume of child dance creation in Bule- leng from an aesthetic point of view. The constituent elements were the basic and supporting elements. The following were the basic elements that were observed: Dot Pattern There was dance creation that had adjacency to the tradition and less traditio- nal on the four dances that were performed at NegeripembinaSingaraja Kindergarten. To observe the dot on the costume that has adjacency to the tradition could be done by observing the traditional touch. The dot could be observed on the patterned costu- me, such as kamen prada. Figure 1. Dance Costume “Macepat-cepa- tan” Documentation: Fitri Ayu Nurjannatin, June 6, 2015 The dot on the center of the flower pattern used supporting elements, such as colour, light, and the relation between the dot and its surrounding. The gold dot on the flower pattern gave glamorous im- pression. It was like emitting light from the pattern of the prada. The flower shape sho- wed the relationship between it and Bali- nese tradition especially in Buleleng. The flower pattern was the harmony between human and nature. All activities were to create beauty and harmony. The flower was a symbol of beauty and flowers were the symbol of the culture that represented Bali. The flower was also the symbol of the relationship between human and gods. The flowers were used as the offering be- cause they were the symbol of beauty and life harmony. Dot could also be seen on the children’s dance costume that was not tra- ditional. Even though, the costume worn was owned by the dancer, it could be seen that there were dot elements on the pattern of costume. On the picture below, it could be observed that there were children dan- cer wearing a dot patterned dress. Figure 2. Dance Costume “Malu Sama Kucing” Documentation: Fitri Ayu Nurjannatin, June 6, 2015 Stripe Pattern Stripe pattern on figure 3 was made of combination of colour fabrics that kind of forming stripe pattern. According to Djelantik, stripe was a pattern that con- tains more meaning than death, because stripes created a particular feeling for the observer. Strong stripes created a different feeling than curvy stripe. One gave stiff and hard impression while the other gave a soft and smooth impression (1990, p. 20). It could be seen on the costume of the boy above that stripe on the belt and pants gave hard impression. On the skirt of the girl’s costume, the stripes were actually straight, but the upper part of the dress was uneven because of the use of elastic on the upper part of the dress. Even though the stripes were straight, they seemed curvy and gave Langen Bronto Sutrisno, et al., Costume Characteristics of Children Creation Dance ... 155 a soft and smooth impression. Figure 3. Dance Costume “Mamaku Marah-marah” Documentation: Fitri Ayu Nurjannatin, June 6, 2015 Dance titled “Mamaku Marah -ma- rah” was not a traditional dance. Howe- ver, the costume still included a belt which was a part of traditional costume. There were horizontal stripes on the belt and ot- her horizontal stripes onthe ankle section. The size of the stripes was actually small, but because of the combination of the co- lour, the stripes on the belt and ankle secti- on seemed thick. Moreover, Djelantik explained that the impression was based on the size, thickness, thinness,and also the position of the stripes while colour would add dif- ferent quality (1990, p.20). The impression got on the boys’ dance costume was that the size of the waist seemed big and the legs seemed small. The reason of the ar- rangement was probably to suit the body shape. The waist because it was bigger had big stripes and colour combination, while the legs had narrower stripes and colour combination because they were smaller. Meanwhile, on the skirt of the girls’ costu- me, the lines of the colour formed a stripe. The bright colour would give a cheerful and happy impression. They were a little bit different from the colour that formed stripes on the boys’ costume, it could be seen that the bright and harmonic impres- sion on the boys’ costume suited the costu- me on the girls’. Meanwhile, the stripes on the waist gave stiff and hard impression. Organized stripes in bright colours gave plain impression. The use of bright colour reflected happiness. It would evoke and increase the children’s emotion so they would also feel the happiness. Stripes pattern was also found on the children’s shirt in the dance that was less traditional titled “Malu Sama Kucing”. The dancer wore vertical and a horizontal stripe shirt. Figure 4. Dance Costume “Mamaku Marah-marah” Documentation: Fitri Ayu Nurjannatin, June 6, 2015 The stripes on the boy dancer’s shirt gave hard impression. If the thickness and thinness of the stripes on the dancer cos- tumes ware observed, the size was diffe- rent between one another. The size of the stripes was small or medium. There was no costume standard in this dance. The presence of the dot, stripes, and the others were inadvertent factors from the style of the dance that usually was the dancer’s pa- rent. However, the colour of the children’s costume worn by the children may imp- rove the costume quality. The visible stri- pes were usually plain. It showed that the HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 15 (2) (2015): 152-159156 Figure 6. Dance Costume “Sakit- nya Duh Disini” Documentation: Fitri Ayu Nurjannatin, June 6, 2015 The Manifestation of Supporting Ele- ments in the Costume of Children Cre- ation Dance for Kindergarten Students at Buleleng, Bali After the basic element was pre- sented, supporting elements will be desc- ribed in this part. Supporting elements discussed here are: movement, lightning, and colour. The Element of Movement Children creation dance in Buleleng was dancing on a simple stage during midday, so that, lightning effect was not needed here. In addition, during the per- formance, costumes worn by the children did not complement the movement dan- ced with the children neither as the theme nor the property. In this study, however, a specific discussion related to the costu- me would be described. According to Dje- lantik (1990), because of the involvement of space dimention, dance aesthetic ele- ments, i.e. symmetry, asymmetry, balance, variation, contrast, and prominence were brought to a dance performance. Indeed, those aesthetic elements were involved in a dance choreography. Further, Djelantik states that in creating dance movement, movement form each dancer as well as a group of dancer included its adjustment to the space, lightning, colour, karawitan (One of Indonesian traditional music ac- companiment), and literature form a dan- ce management called as “choreography” costume tended to be simple and far from luxurious. Plane Pattern Plane, according to Djelantik could be flat, curved, or wavy, flat with uneven surface (1990, p. 21). There were plane patterns on the costume worn in the dan- ce creation. The dance creation that had adjacency to the tradition still had traditio- nal elements of the costume, for example coming Prada is worn in “Macepatan-ce- patan” dance. It had plane pattern with rough surface because of the presence of prada pattern. T-shirt and pants combinati- on seemed casual, and they were combin- ed with patterned kamen prada that seemed glamour, it was used to maintain tradi- tional dance and less traditional dance so they have dynamic combination. Figure 5. Dance Costume “Macepat-cepa- tan” Documentation: Fitri AyuNurjannatin, June 6, 2015 The dance creation costume in less traditional dance had plane pattern, for example on the girl’s skirt that was worn in “SakitnyaTuh Disini” dance. However, the plane pattern had rough surface becau- se it was decorated with sequins. So if the surface was touched, it would fell rough. However, the combination of the skirt and t-shirt seemed simple and plain; the sequins were intended to give glamorous and dynamic impression. Langen Bronto Sutrisno, et al., Costume Characteristics of Children Creation Dance ... 157 (Djelanti, 1990: 23). If a costume in a one entire choreography was observed, for instance in “Macepat-cepatan” dance with costumes as shown in Figure 1 or 5, the elements of rhythm, arhythm, tempo, as well as balance, variation, contrast, and prominence would be clearly shown. The symetrical element in costume would be frequently found in parts of costume, such as: the fabric, skirt, or pattern. The applica- tion of the common parade in a costume sho- wed that patterns were made evenly and a symmetrical shape was formed. An asym- metrical element was also found when the patterned fabric or kamen prada was com- bined with plain tops or pants. Assymetri- cal impression did not mean that the cos- tume was bad. On the other hand, it would create more balance and gave a more beau- tiful impression. Besides, it also acted as a bridge between pattered and plain costu- mes. The use of patterned and plain costu- me would also show contrast and created a more alive impression. The prominence impression that was shaped from the pat- terned costume as in kamen prada, especi- ally with the shining effect from the prada, would create a more luxurious impression. The Element of Lightning Lightning of the performance was utilizing sun shine during the daylight. There was a light shadow near the dancers. This was beautifying the costume worn by dancers. The shadow showed the impres- sion of shape and dimention from the cos- tume that attached to the children’s body. The Element of Colour Appealing colour was the most in- fluencing element that might support the performing arts. Based on Djelantik (1990), colours are divided into: Primary Colour that is based colour that cannot use a combination of ot- her colours to create. The colours are red, yellow, and blue. Secondary Colour or second stage colours are colours that are produced from the combination of two primary colours. The colours are the combina- tion of: red and yellow that turns into oran- ge, yellow and Blue turns into green, blue and red turns into purple. Tertier colours or the third stage, also known as intermediate colours are colours that were produced from the combination of primary and se- condary colours. There are: red and orange turns into reddish orange, red and purple turns into reddish purple, yellow and orange turns into yello- wish orange, yellow and green turns into yello- wish green, blue and green turns into bluish green, blue and purple turns into bluish purple (Djelantik, 1990, p. 26-27) During the performance, for examp- le for “Macepat-cepatan” dance, a combi- nation between primary and secondary colours could be found, that were yellow and green. Another combination colour was the primary and tertier color, yellow and pink. For the creation dance that was far from traditional such as “Mamaku Ma- rah-marah”, primary, secondary, and ter- rier colours (yellow, green, and pink) were used. It can be seen from a short illustra- tion above that in both dances, traditional or non- traditional dances, bright colours were worn. If we observe closer, according to Djelantik (1990: 27-28), the fundamental natures of a colour are complexion, tone, brightness, power, temperature, and at- mosphere. More traditional creation dan- ce, “Macepat-cepatan”, uses bright colours such as light green for boys and pink for girls. In line with this was in the less tra- ditional dance, “Mamaku Marah-marah” that used light green and indigo for girls and light green for boys. Another colour use here was yellow that could be seen from both traditional and less traditional dances. In addition to the colour chosen for the costume, it seemed that the dance used HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 15 (2) (2015): 152-159158 cold colour –like green – in “Macepat-cepa- tan” and “Mamaku Marah-marah” dances. According to Djelantik (1990, p. 28), each colour can create a specific atmosphere im- pression. Happiness is symbolized by yel- low, gold, and dark red. Here, anger was illustrated by light or dark red. Calm was represented by green, light blue, as well as light grey (silver). Sadness was sym- bolized by purple and brown. Purity was represented by white or light yellow. Las- tly, gloom was illustrated by the colour of black and dark grey. Based on the argument as stated abo- ve, bright colour was often used in children creation dance. It gave the atmosphere of happiness and calm. The impression of happiness and calm were seen in “Mace- pat-cepatan” by choosing yellow for the tops as well as green and golf for the kamen prada. In line with this was in a less traditi- on dance that used yellow for tops to crea- te the atmosphere of happiness, and green for the boys’ pants to give the impression of calm. The Aesthetic Characteristics of Costume Worn by Children Creation Dance Danc- ers in Kindergarten at Buleleng, Bali While observing costume aesthe- tic of children creation dance, researchers found out that the elements affected their psychology most were shaped and colour. The shape that was close to tradition in ge- neral was the use of combination between modern and traditional culture of Bali. It was shown in the combination between T- shirt as the tops and kamen prada that rep- resented the ethnic of Bali. Psychological- ly, a child is hoped to be able to recognize and understand costume –or outfit – that is often worn in daily life, while at the same time is able and feel proud of Bali’s tradi- tional clothes as well. The appearance of prominence in the form of dots and stripes that was shown in prada pattern and cha- racterized the traditional side of Bali was expected to be able to make children fami- liar with traditional costume of Bali, visu- ally. Kamen prada with the touch of luxury and beautiful gold colour psychologically made children clad in wearing it. Thus, they were expected to be more confident in dancing while wearing the costume. In addition to the form of less tradi- tional costume, the use of T-shirt and skirt accentuated the shapes that might attract children. The shape of the skirt as is worn in “Mamaku Marah-marah” dance was created in puff model. The use of stripes in every colour border also gave the im- pression of cumulation to the skirt. It was the same with what was shown in “Sakit- nya Duh di Sini” dance that used sequins for the skirt. From a distance, the costume seemed to have sparkles in the form of dots. The pile shape and sparkle from the sequin of the skirt caused the costume to be more rousing. For children, this aspect might grow their spirit and cheerfulness in performing the dance. A very prominent part of this cos- tume in general was the use of bright co- lour that gave the impression happiness but calm at the same time. Bright colours frequently used here are yellow and pink, whereas cold colours chosen for the cos- tumes were green and a little amount of blue. Yellow and indigo with a little touch of green were also expected to create the feeling of happiness but calm while perfor- ming on stage. A psychological understanding to- wards children at a very first place might become the basic consideration of creati- on dance costume making. It was hoped the understanding may show the sense of happiness. According to Nelva Rolina (no year) in her article entitled “Memahami Psi- kologi Perkembangan Anak bagi Pengemban- gan Aspek Seni Anak Usia Dini” (Understan- ding Children Developmental Psychology for the Aspect Development of Children in Early Childhood) states that the develop- ment of art for children can be also used as medium to express emossion in healthy way without hurting or disturbing others. For example, during the occasion of ‘pang- gung ceria’ in State Kindergarten of Pem- bina Singaraja, children expresse it while dancing happily with full of confidence. The confidence and happiness were sup- Langen Bronto Sutrisno, et al., Costume Characteristics of Children Creation Dance ... 159 ported by a bright and interesting costume for children. The emotion and confidence of the children were spread out on stage without the feeling of fear or force. CONCLUSION In general, costume of Children Cre- ation Dance in kindergarten at Buleleng had the same form between tradition and less tradition costume. Aesthetic elements in dance costumes for the more traditio- nal dance and costume were shown in patterned costume, especially for the use of common Prada. Dots, stripes, plane and space were represented in the prada pat- terned costume, whereas the costume co- lour was more to bright and cold colours. Others were colour that might create the atmosphere of happiness and calm. Furt- her, the less traditional costume tended to accentuate dots with sequin and stripes as boundaries between colours. Colours ac- centuated here were bright and cold ones, also colours which gave happiness and calm impression. Bright and cold colours that might create happiness and calm impression were suited with children’s psychology. This was aimed at a free expression by children while performing on stage. Children were believed to be able to perform expressive, cheerful and confident movements while they wore interesting and colourful costu- me that might support the atmosphere of happiness. REFERENCES Sachari, A.(2002). Estetika Makna, Simbol dan Daya. Bandung: ITB. Damajanti, I.(2013). Psikologi Seni. Band- ung: Kiblat Djelantik, A.A.M. (2001). Estetika Sebuah Pengantar. Bandung: MSPI (Ma- syarakat Seni Pertunjukan Indone- sia) bersama dengan kuBuku. Kartika,D. S. dan Perwira, N. G.(2004).Pen- gantar Estetika. Bandung: Rekayasa Sains. Kusumastuti, E. (2011). Pendidikan Seni Tari pada Anak Usia Dini di Taman Kanak-kanak Tadika Puri Cabang Erlangga Semarang sebagai Proses Alih Budaya.Harmonia: Journal Of Arts Research And Education, 5(1). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia. v5i1.826 Lommelaars, H.CA. (1968). Pengantar Ilmu Warna.Yogyakarya: Akademi Seni Rupa Indonesia. Rolina, N. (no year). Memahami Psikologi Perkembangan Anak Bagi Pengem- bangan Aspek Seni Anak Usia Dini. Retrived from https://www.staff. uny.ac.id/sites/default/files/tmp/ artikel-unk-p4tksb.pdf Djelantik, A.A.M. (1990). Pengantar Ilmu Estetika Jilid I Estetika Instrumental. Denpasar: Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indo- nesia (STSI). Djelantik, A.A.M. (1992). Pengantar Dasar Ilmu Estetika Jilid II Falsafah Keinda- han dan Kesenian. Denpasar: Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia (STSI).