A Kathak exponent, Parul has been working rigorously in creating awareness about classical dance, music and theatre. She believes that it is important for a performing artist to do ‘riyaz’ regularly.

Dr. Parul Purohit Vats is a Kathak dancer and Dean of the School of Performing Arts in the World University of Design, Sonipat.

Recalling her childhood, Parul says that she enjoyed her childhood a lot with her maternal and paternal grandparents. Her elder cousins always supported and encouraged her. She made many friends and used to travel a lot in her childhood.

Parul is from Jodhpur, Rajasthan. She says that when she was six years old, her father enrolled her in dance class in Ajmer to learn classical dance. She learned Kathak under the guidance of her guru Manak Lal. When her father was transferred to Jodhpur,  she started  training under Late Khemchand Prakash. She learned a lot about Kathak and performed at several programmes under the tutelage of the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Academy. She started her professional journey in the field of dance at the age of sixteen from Nrityagram, Bangalore. There she learned under the guidance of Padma Bhusan Kumudini Lakhia. She did masters from ‘Kadamb’ in Ahmedabad, and PhD from Jai Narayan Vyas Vishwavidyalaya, Jodhpur.

Talking about her journey, Parul says that her journey was very beautiful and her parents and younger sister always supported her in her journey. Her father guided her to do a PhD that helped her later in many ways. She got married in 2006 and got many job opportunities. She worked for a Swedish school, the British Council and in 2019 she got an offer to join Shri Ram Bhartiya Kala Kendra as a Principal. She worked there for two and half years there and then became a Dean in the School of Performing Arts.

When asked about her mistakes, Parul says that she strongly believes that the divine power behind her always helped her not to make too many mistakes in life. She says that she didn’t make any mistakes but now she is giving less time to her riyaz because of academic pressure.

Sharing her achievements, Parul says that as a member of the Dance council, Paris she got the opportunity to present her papers and also present a self choreographed piece in 2018 in Greece. She also did her grade eight in performing arts from Trinity College, London. She has written for many newspapers, her papers were published in several journals and has delivered  many talks. She is also involved in creating and spreading awareness among the people to promote performing arts as a career. She was recognised by many awards like the Yuva Puraskar from the Sangeet Natak Academy, the ‘Matra Shakti Award’ and many more. She considers raising her son as her biggest achievement.

Parul’s role models are many as she learned a lot from many people. She says that firstly She also admires Protima Bedi as she learned some life mantras from her. These four people influenced her life and always inspired her.

To attain mental peace, Parul does chanting and dance. She says that to beat stress it is important to reflect daily.

Parul’s life mantra is to have faith in your divine power and in yourself. She also says that do not aim for success, always aim for excellence.