Long before the debut album, the pop performances and the hot-pink ballet barre, Adéla Jergova was a ballet student in Chelsea. Now, six years after leaving English National Ballet School, ballet is finding its way back into her work.

In 2020, Adéla left her family home in Slovakia and moved to London to train at English National Ballet School. Most of her days were spent in our Chelsea studios, although ballet wasn’t her only interest. In between classes, she was taking singing lessons.

At the time, perhaps that felt like something happening on the side. Six years later, it looks rather more significant.

Adéla has just released her debut album, PRIMA, and the title alone tells you that ballet hasn’t entirely disappeared from the picture. Speaking to Teen Vogue about growing up in the ballet world, Adéla described it as a demanding one:

“Coming from the ballet space, I grew up in a very tough training environment.”

She has spoken about developing a “thick skin” at a young age, something that would later come in useful as she found herself navigating an entirely different, and very public, industry.

Leaving ballet

Adéla is equally candid about why ballet ultimately wasn’t the career she wanted.

“I quit ballet because I craved freedom and creative expression,” she told Cosmopolitan.

Music offered that freedom. Dance, however, came with her. Watching Adéla perform now, the references are difficult to miss. Ballet technique slips in and out of contemporary choreography. There are grand jetés. There are pointe shoes. There is even a hot-pink ballet barre.

Why PRIMA?

The most obvious reference is the album itself.

PRIMA is a nod to the prima ballerina, traditionally the leading female dancer in a ballet company. For Adéla it’s a title that manages to look backwards and forwards at the same time.

“It’s something I’m striving to be in pop music,” Adéla told W Magazine.

Adéla may have stepped away from ballet as a full-time profession, but its influence is still visible in the way she moves and presents herself on stage. Rather than leaving that part of her life behind (apparently she tries to practise  ballet every day), she is choosing to celebrate it.

And her fans have noticed.

Ballet has become a recurring theme in the growing online world around Adéla. Fan accounts dedicated to her are popping up across Instagram, while clips of her ballet-inflected choreography are being shared, copied and turned into dance trends and memes.

Back in Chelsea

Adéla’s mum, Maria, recently visited us at the School. Walking through the studios again, she said, brought back many fond memories of Adéla dancing and of watching her grow up through ballet.

And Maria isn’t the only Jergova to have been back through our doors recently. Adéla has also returned to ENBS.

We’ll be sharing more from her visit soon! Until then, congratulations to Adéla on PRIMA. We’re very excited to have been one small part of the story.

Read more from Adéla, and the latest stories from our Alumni community.