About
Mandate:
Shvas Dance Company creates, produces, and presents contemporary South Asian dance while nurturing community connection through inclusive programming.
Mission:
We cultivate collaborative and inclusive spaces for South Asian dance to be explored as a living, evolving practice.
Vision:
We envision South Asian dance thriving across Canada as a recognized, sustainable, and ever-evolving art form within the diaspora.
Values:
Artistic Integrity & Excellence | Community | Sustainability | Care
Shvas Dance Company is a contemporary South Asian dance initiative based in Toronto, Canada.
Rooted in Bharatanatyam and informed by contemporary and diasporic practices, SHVAS explores how stories are carried through the body through rhythm, gesture, stillness, and emotional resonance.
The company creates space for artists to engage deeply with both tradition and innovation, bringing classical and community art forms into dialogue with present-day narratives and lived experiences.
Through performance, collaboration, and community programming, SHVAS is committed to cultivating work that is rigorous, expressive, and deeply human.
Our Team
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Purawai Vyas
FOUNDER | AD
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Anisha Manyal
BOARD (Chair)
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Jay Dipak Patel
BOARD (Secretary)
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Swati Shah
BOARD (Treasurer)
Founder
Purawai Vyas | Founder/Artistic Director
Purawai Vyas is a Canadian choreographer, dance artist and educator based in Toronto, with a practice rooted in over two decades of Bharatanatyam training under Guru Lata Pada at Sampradaya Dance Academy. Her interdisciplinary training includes foundational Ballet, modern-contemporary dance, Hip-Hop foundations, Bollywood and Kalarippayattu. Purawai holds an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from York University.
As a performer, she has appeared in Kintsugi (Sampradaya Dance Creations, 2025), Convergent Divergence: Helix (Toronto Dance Theatre, 2023), and Svāhā! (Nova Dance, 2022). She has toured extensively across Canada, India, and Southeast Asia. Her choreographic works have been presented by CanAsian Dance, Toes for Dance, and Toronto Dance Theatre, and in 2024 she premiered Smruti, a solo Bharatanatyam production. As the Artistic Director of Shvas Dance Company, she is committed to fostering sustainable, contemporary work based in South Asian dance practices. and advancing the South Asian arts sector.
Purawai is the recipient of several distinguished awards, including the Metcalf Performing Arts Internship (2026), IMASCO Performing Arts Award and Manorama Thakkar Award for Indian Dance at York University, as well as the 2022 Emerging Dance Artist MARTY Award presented by the Mississauga Arts Council.
