Mangala Bhatt initially trained under the late Shri Kundanlal Gangani of Jaipur Gharana at Kathak Kendra, New Delhi and took advanced training under the Kathak maestro late Pandit Durga Lal. She completed the post diploma course of the Kathak Kendra and Visharada from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi. In 1992, Mangala and her husband Raghav established ‘Aakruti Kathak Kendra’ in Hyderabad, a first of its kind institute in South India. From 1996 to 1999, she worked as a teacher-cum-performer at the Indian Cultural Centre, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, under the auspices of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi.