Our Vision
TIKoRO believes that the arts are essential to education and intrinsic to the social, cognitive, and personal development of every child.
To realize this vision, our creative collaborations yield powerful arts learning experiences for children, teachers, and families. TIKoRO continuously refines its strategies to meet changing communities and educational needs, by bringing depth and diversity through dance residencies, performances, and after-school programs.
TIKoRO, is short for Tikoro nko agyina which means "two heads are better than one" in Twi. The Ghanaian proverb symbolizes cooperation, board of members, and teamwork. It also welcomes different views and opinions, highlighting that working together will help a group to make better decisions and obtain better outcomes. In TIKoRO, A community that meets every 'I', collaboration is of the essence, and no person is sufficient on his or her own.
With this in mind, TIKoRO strives to build a cultural and creative environment that gives access to communication and allows problem-solving while keeping everyone's interests at the forefront. We aim to create an environment where young people trust, feel safe, and connect to adults, not just as their authority models but as elders in the community who help shape their future, support, and cheer them on.
In practice, one way that TIKoRO breaks down barriers is by offering community-building workshops at the start of the school year that include educators and students. The participants get to work, play, problem-solve, and do different dance activities together. They get to know each another and experience their peers and teachers in a fun, human-centered way. Through the activities, they learn values and skills such as respect, trust, and care, building stronger bonds among themselves. This is a great way for students to see the educators in a different role other than “just the math or science teacher”. The workshop generates accountability among the community, later reflected in a sense of belonging when they attend regular school classes. Both educators and students get an advantage in creating deeper connections with one another; both are now more likely to communicate and problem-solve in a much more efficient and authentic way.
TIKoRO
- A Dance Community that meets every I
TIKoRO’s mission is to bridge different cultures and generations using dance as a universal language and educational tool that encourages self-expression, celebrates differences, and highlights the commonalities we all share. TIKoRO aims to build an environment that reflects the culture we’d like to see. We build a foundation that gives access to communicating and allows problem solving with one another to be at the forefront. A foundation of trust where young people feel safe and connected. We build an environment where young people trust, and feel connected to, adults, not just as their teachers but as elders in the community that are there to help, support and cheer them on. We aim to break down all barriers between students and teachers.
One way we like to break down these barriers is by offering a community building workshop at the start of the school year for both teachers and students where they get to work, play, problem solve, and do different activities together. They will get to know one another and experience each other in a fun human centered way. They will learn to respect and support each other. The bond will be stronger amongst them. This is a great way for students to see the educators in a different role other than “just the math or science teacher”. Students will get a sense of belonging. This way when students go to math or science class, they’ll feel a sense of belonging. This will give every teacher an advantage in really connecting with students and getting to know them. The students will feel like they already know the teacher before they get into their class and bond in a much more efficient and authentic way.
TIKoRO’s aim is to build community first before instructions. We feel strong about a community that meets every ‘I’ in the community, and where everybody feels safe, learning together.