Parikh with her teacher, Apeksha Bhattacharyya. Pics/Nimesh Dave

When you first meet her, Priyanshi Parikh comes off as your garden-variety 13-year-old. She walks into the studio in her school uniform and greets us with a shy smile, her eyes crinkling through her bespectacled face. Five minutes later, she has taken off her glasses and changed into her leotard, and is putting on her pointe shoes - baby pink with satin ribbons. Then, she stands up, and transforms into another person.