[1] Her father was a factory worker and the family of three children lived in difficult circumstances,[2] in a basement apartment on Koplis street.

She completed her training with two years of study under the tutelage of Elena Shiripina (ru) at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, graduating in 1953.

[4][5] Arriving back in Estonia, Puur debuted with Vladimir Bourmeister's staging of Swan Lake and gained acclaim with people coming from all over the country to see the event.

[4][2] She began working as the soloist at the Estonia Theatre and for two years was the principal dancer[6] until a bout of tuberculosis forced her to withdraw.

[1] Puur's most noted roles were as Odette-Odile in Swan Lake in her 1953 debut, as the flower waltz soloist in Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker(1953) and as Beatrice in Mikhail Chulaki's Imaginary fiance (1954).