Theme: Ambience: A Metaphor for Change

Ambience: A Metaphor for Change
Performance in all its myriad forms is heavily influenced by, if not wholly dependent upon the context in which that performance takes place. Before a performer steps on stage, props are perfectly arranged and lighting is tweaked to create the perfect atmosphere for audience and agent alike. Steel, glass and earth are beaten, bent and burned to form nooks and corners for thought, action, inspiration and collaboration. Strings, cords and keys capture our imagination and remind us of the melodic beauty in our living world. Teams, groups, offices, theatres and stages all need the right ambience to achieve their purpose. At TEDxBandra experience how ambience is the elixir for sustainable change.

Bandra West
Mumbai, 400098
India

Sunita Bhuyan

Sunita Bhuyan is a violinist of the Hindustani style. Recipient of the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini award for Music, Sunita has undergone her initial training from her mother Minoti Khaund, eminent violinist and disciple of Pt. V.G. Jog. Sunita has attained a master’s degree in Hindustani Music from Prayag Sangeet Samitte, with a distinction and has also studied advanced music under the apprenticeship of violin maestro Padmabibhushan Late Pt V.G. Jog. Along with pure classical music, Sunita has been performing a variety of light music melodies, experimenting with jazz, folk and popular music to reach out to a diverse spectrum of audience. Sunita is the head of Learning and Development at Syntel Inc, an American ITES company, and uses music as a life enrichment tool for her management development workshops. This program has been awarded in the innovative learning category at the world HRD congress.

Archana Prasad

Archana Prasad, is an artist from Bangalore, India. Her work is a particular conjunction of visual art, technology and urban community-based art, steeped in design and research methodologies. As Co-Founder & Director of Jaaga Archana has a unique artist-activist role. She works towards building a stronger arts community and positively impacting public perception of art, artists and art-practices, and seeks to harness the power of the internet in this negotiation. She has a keen interest in documentation and creating public awareness on Bangalore's socio-cultural heritage.

Craig Johnson

Picture _Craig Johnson is the Superintendent of the American School of Bombay. Craig has returned to India (where he spent 12 years of his childhood) after 15 years in Brazil. While in Brazil, Craig served as the High School Principal, at Graded School in Sao Paulo; and more recently as the Headmaster of the American School of Brasilia, Brazil. Craig’s roots, as a classroom teacher, are in Middle and High School English and Social Studies. Craig continues to stay engaged in student life, by coaching soccer, and trying to teach or co-teaching an English class as often as possible. A regular presenter and workshop facilitator on a variety of Leadership and School Improvement topics, Craig has also published a novel (Wave Watcher), and has a second novel on the way.

Fenella Kelly

Picture _Fenella Kelly is a drama teacher, teacher trainer, theatre director, dancer and actress. She graduated from Cambridge University in Drama and Education. Wanting to see the world, she then trained as a TESOL teacher, and before she knew it she was co-running a school in Crete. Directing language schools every summer brought her back to the UK, but it was in Istanbul that she found her theatrical feet again, for it is there that she co-ran a theatre company that produced large shows, comprised of an international cast, for charity, and toured with English Language Teaching plays. From Istanbul she headed to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to be head of Performing Arts and teach Theatre and Dance. Next stop was Cairo where she had a similar job. After a brief spell in the UK to do an MA in Drama and Theatre in Education she headed to St. Julian’s School, Portugal and she is now working at the American School of Bombay as a High School Drama teacher. She is also part of Expressions Modern Dance Company in Mumbai.