Vadodara: At 66, former dean takes entrance test to study again

VADODARA: City’s renowned Bharatanatyam danseuse has left many surprised by applying to become a student at the same department and faculty where she had served as teacher, head of department and dean.
Professor Parul Shah, who retired in 2014 on attaining the age of superannuation, recently appeared for entrance test to take admission in first year bachelor’s of performing arts in Kathak.
Sixty-six-year-old Shah, who is presently in Italy, confirmed this to TOI. “I want to keep myself active in the field of dance. I enjoy dancing,” Shah, a cancer survivor, said.
“In 1962, when I had formally started learning dance, I had begun my journey with Kathak under renowned teachers but I had not finished my formal education in that genre. Instead, all my formal studies and practice was in Bharatanatyam. If I get admission at the faculty, I can complete this circle,” said Shah.
Shah, who has several awards to her credit, served as head of the Department of Dance and dean of Faculty of Performing Arts (of which the department is a part), twice during her career.
Currently, she is in Italy as a part of conference titled ‘Learning dance in the heart of Italy’ where she is teaching Bharatanatyam to 14 kids from the United States’ North Carolina University. These kids are in Italy as a part of study abroad programme.
Shah was diagnosed with fourth degree cancer before couple of years but has survived with immense positivity. Her doctors have advised her to remain physically active so that chances of re-occurrence get minimized.
In 2014, she was nominated by chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) as principal investigator for e-content development in performing arts – a project aimed at creating high quality material in four quadrants – textual documentation and preparation of e-books, video and audio content with virtual laboratories, related links and further reading, and testing modules.