Purawai Vyas (SHE/HER)

Company Dancer and Administrative/Marketing Associate

Purawai Vyas is a Canadian dance artist based in Toronto, with a practice rooted in over two decades of Bharatanatyam training under Guru Lata Pada at Sampradaya Dance Academy. Her interdisciplinary background includes Ballet, modern-contemporary dance, and Kalarippayattu, alongside an Honours BFA in Dance from York University. As a performer, she has appeared in Kintsugi (Sampradaya Dance Creations, 2025), Convergent Divergence (Toronto Dance Theatre, 2023), and Svāhā! (Nova Dance, 2022). She has toured extensively across Canada, India, and Southeast Asia. Her choreographic work has been presented by CanAsian Dance, Toes for Dance, and Toronto Dance Theatre, and in 2024 she premiered Smruti, a solo Bharatanatyam production. Purawai is the Founder of Shvas Dance Company, where she is committed to advancing sustainable, contemporary creation based in South Asian dance practices.

Birthplace: Ahmedabad, India

Training/Dance Vocabularies: Bharatanatyam (Thanjavur Bani), Limon/Contemporary-based Modern, Kalaripayattu, Ballet, Hip Hop.

For Nova Dance: Svāhā!; Svāhā! on tha Land, Sharing the Stage, Discover Dance Curatorial Team; Adminstrative Associate, Writer-In-Residence, Deep End Week 2025

THIS MUST BE FUN - I've been given the opportunity to shift into many roles at Nova Dance; from being a dancer, to helping with administration, curation and communications. I've learned to have fun in these different roles and embrace the idea of play and experimentation in everything we do at Nova Dance