Hitchhiker’s guide to public policy: PuneetSahani

Speaker information:
PuneetSahani or ‘The Colorful Hitchhiker’ as he is better known in traveling circles, has hitchhiked (traveling by soliciting lifts from strangers on the road) for over 100,000kms across 35 countries. Prior to immersing himself in the road and travelling, Puneet also dabbled in science while working at top Artificial Intelligence labs , Policy (was mentored by noted educators like Dr. Domingo Docampo) and Journalism (contributed as columnist on Asian politics to the Spanish newspaper ‘Xornal’). Puneet is currently loosely based in Berlin pursuing a Masters in Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance, where he tries to marry his unconventional way of understanding real-world issues with traditional approach of the academia.

What time is it?: Guillaume Gevrey

Different cultures experience and manage time differently. This TEDx talk explores the different mythological origins of time as well as their impact in working effectively across cultures.
Speaker information:
Guillaume Gevrey is an intercultural management specialist with over 12 years of international experience in Human Resources Management and Training. Guillaume draws on his personal experience to help companies develop intercultural competence among their managers and leaders. Guillaume is a founding member of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR) in India and was its president from 2009 to 2011. He also presented at different Sietar events in India, France and Germany as well as presenting “Bollywood: Representing Changing Corporate Values, Creating and Challenging Stereotypes and Dealing with New Issues in Indian Society” at the Global SIETAR conference in Spain in 2008.

Mayur: Divya Ravi

An important piece in the Bharatanatyam repertoire is the Thillana. Usually performed as the finale piece, the Thillana is based on Nritta or pure dance, showcasing the movement techniques and the grammar of Bharatanatyam. The end of a Thillana includes a verse usually in praise of a deity. In the Thillana that Divya will be presenting, the verse honors Lord Subramanya. The mount of Lord Subramanya is the peacock. Movements of the peacock have been incorporated into the framework of the Thillana, by interspersing them with patterns from the traditional Bharatanatyam idioms.
Speaker information:
Pursuing her passion of dancing from the age of seven, Divya Ravi has taken the dancing world by storm with her various performances. As a soloist, she has performed in many coveted dance festivals like EFCEP series organized by ICCR and Department of Kannada and Culture, Music Academy — Madras, and Indian Institute of World Culture to name a few. She played the lead role in a ballet featured by the pioneering PrabhathKalavidaru and was also invited by POGO, a television channel, to shoot for an episode showcasing Indian Classical Dance, in a popular series for children. Currently undergoing Kathak training at Abhinava Arts Centre, Divya has performed extensively with the performing unit, ABHINAVA DANCE COMPANY all over India.

How does one become a Global Citizen?:Tanja Schulze

An exploration of the concept of Global Citizenship, a search for a definition and a quest to find the conditions needed to form Global Citizens — interwoven with personal stories by the presenter.
Speaker information:
Born in Jena, Germany, Tanja grew up in a small village in the then East Germany. With the fall of the Berlin wall, her life changed drastically. She did her schooling in a city and did her High School Exchange year in the USA. Her studies took her to Spain and since then she has had numerous travel and work experiences in other countries. Her experience as the Program Director of the Melton Foundation, an international organization that enabled her to become competent in intercultural training and communication.Tanja now trains diverse audiences in intercultural communication and competencies and teaches intercultural learning and diversity at university level. Her other interests lie in traveling and exploring languages. She currently lives in Leipzig, Germany.

Beatroute World: Vineeth Vincent

India today is a growing nation with a plethora of possibilities, like many other nations we have a rich culture and heritage. Artists, in society are the ones that represent culture. However, they are also amongst the least respected. As a growing market the demand for music has also been raising, how can we connect the two? We are working on a project that promotes artists, educates children and also helps create social awareness. Beat route is not just another reaction to a cause; it’s a solution to a problem. It is a solution that has a tangible social, financial and educational impact.
Speaker information:
Vineeth Vincent (http://vineethvincent.com/) is a beatboxer, musician, emcee and a performing artist from Bangalore. He started off as a professional emcee in Bangalore and has been working as a professional Beat Boxer since January 2008 with over 700 performances till date. He personally manages the band ‘All The Fat Children’ and co-founded a company called SideStepSolutions that pushes for social responsibility and sustainability for artists. Vineeth Vincent had the honor of directing 1246 and 2136 people into the Guinness World Records? and the “Limca Book of Records” respectively for the “World’s Largest Beat Box Ensemble”. He is also currently a part of Voctronica, India’s First Vocal Orchestra signed onto Zomba, a Sony Music property.

Traveling outside my comfort zone: Daniel Vera

Over the past years, Chilean psychologist Daniel Vera, has been able to travel frequently through diverse places around the globe. This experience has allowed him to know and learn from diverse cultures. On this talk he shares his 3 biggest learnings from this intercultural experiences and how this new understanding have shaped his life and relation with others.
Speaker information:
Daniel Vera González is a Chilean Social-Community Psychologist, whose work is related to analysis and support of local and regional development, focusing on the improvement of governmental institutions, citizen participation and social development. The execution of his work in different locations in southern Chile has allowed him to learn about the importance of considering and integrating the specific characteristics (social, cultural, geographical etc.) of each territory to generate an effective and coherent development for its inhabitants. He has been a Fellow of the Melton Foundation since 2006 and through the cultural activities associated with the fellowship, he has explored many different cultures around the world. Additionally, he was one of the organizers and host of the TEDx event “TEDxUFRO: Every Identity has a story” held in Temuco, Chile in 2011.

Fusion Violin: AmbiSubramaniam

AmbiSubramaniam performs a fusion music piece composed by his father and guru Dr. L. Subramaniam. The composition is based on the carnatic raga Vakulabharanam. Ambi first plays a free-styla raga improvisation (raga alapana) and then will plays the composition along with moorching artiste Mr. SatyaSai.
Performer information:
Known as the ‘new king of Indian classical violin’, Ambi has been on stage since the age of seven. His greatest musical influence is his father and guru, Dr. L. Subramaniam with whom he tours the world, giving solo and duet performances. Ambi has performed at the prestigious Dussehra Festival at the Mysore Palace, the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, the Jay PritzkerPavillion in Chicago and at the Centenary Celebration of the BanglaoreGayanaSamaj. He has performed with the Orchestra Nationale du Lille, SinfoniaBaltica, Filharmonica du Stadt Sibiu, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Philharmoic Orchestra. Ambi was a featured soloist for the Sounds of India program featuring talented instrumentalists from around the country.

The “aha” of dance!:Nirupama and Rajendra

With a strong awakening that Dance Connects All To One Magical World, the dancer duo Nirupama&Rajendra share their ideas of explorations through exciting demonstrations of dance , vocal recitation & video excerpts of their work. Their presentation features range of creative dance expressions interspersed with their talks of their role as dancers ,choreographers & directors & how they connect tradition with modern visions.The duo perform excerpts from their celebrated abstract choreography “Ta-Dha” & the enchanting composition inspired from Nature & conclude with an exciting improv piece “Conversations ” of Rhythmic Footwork Passages.
Speaker Information:
Nirupama and Rajendra, a dynamic dancing couple from Bangalore, India have over the years created a wave of excitement on the Indian dance scene. ‘Abhinava Dance Company’, their brainchild has been successful in bringing out the essence of Indian dance. Rooted in the tradition, they have evolved their own distinct style of presentation by fusing ethnic and modern genres of music & dance. Their work integrates traditional Indian classical dance/music with a wide range of classical & global music like Jazz, Spanish, Afro and World Music. They have travelled extensively performing to packed audiences all over India & several countries across the five continents and have performed to over 5 million connoisseurs only through stage performances.