Adams, originally from Detroit, made her first ballroom dance debut with a Vengaboys CD, but went on to train in Canada, Monaco and Moscow before joining English National Ballet in 2014. She has regularly been praised by critics. , whether for her Russian -She has studied lyricism, charismatic American zing or meddling in the skin of contemporary choreography and is set to appear in a triple bill, including Mats Ek’s new Rite of Spring and a William Forsythe piece with electronic music by James Blake. “My career is in the studio every day” … Precious Adams. Photo: Karolina Kuras Recently promoted to soloist, Adams’ rise to ENB has been steady rather than a sprint, but she’s optimistic about it. “I can’t let casting be what defines my happiness and fulfillment because, you know, I still haven’t been cast as Odette/Odile [in Swan Lake] – It’s the same kind of unhealthy attachment to getting your satisfaction from Instagram.” Now 27, “I feel the healthiest and strongest dancer I’ve ever been in my career,” she says. “I’ve never been happier taking class and there’s something really liberating about it.” She sees the years between 25 and 35 as a top female dancer, in technique, artistry and emotional maturity. “And there’s something beautiful about enjoying it and not worrying about things that are out of my hands.” One of those things that slips out of Adams’ hands is that ENB is losing its director, Tamara Rojo, an inspirational dancer herself, who has transformed the company. Rojo is leaving for the San Francisco Ballet at the end of the month, and her successor, Aaron Watkin, won’t officially start until August 2023. Some of the dancers have panicked because they’re in limbo. “You know, ‘Who’s going to see the work we’re doing?’ Who’s going to bid?”’ says Adams. “Well, my career is in the studio every day. It’s not determined by the promotion I had that year.” Precious Adams and Aaron Robison in William Forsythe’s Approximate Sonata 2016. Photo: Laurent Liotardo While Adams is as passionate about ballet as ever, perhaps her sense of perspective comes from the fact that she’s looking beyond her ballet career and just finished her first year of a computer science degree (she may be the only ballerina whose the next the job is actually in cyberspace). How does she manage her schedule? “You fit it in when you can,” he says, in a “no big deal” way. He does it part-time, mostly remotely, and there are other dancers in the company who are also studying. “You don’t want to wake up when you’re 45 and have zero credentials.” The University has provided a nice contrast to her dance work. “I feel great relief and joy when I enter the studio after my studies,” he says. “And I find that my brain picks up the choreography a little faster, more informed.” In the last two years things have changed. “You become a ballet dancer and it’s your whole life, in an almost unhealthy perspective,” she says, “and the pandemic was a big wake-up call for me. I thought I might not be on stage again.” Precious Adams as Sister Clemence in Tamara Rojo’s Raymonda from English National Ballet. Photo: Johan Persson Adams credits the time she spent training in lockdown with giving her technique more clarity – “I think of my body as this geometric puzzle. the physics of dance makes a lot more sense to me now” – and says the pandemic is humanizing the ballet world. “It blew the lid off every facade ballet had around glamor and glamour.” Rojo taught daily ballet classes online from her kitchen. “Seeing the inside of your boss’s house just humbled everyone, brought them more down to earth. There’s a lot of creative energy in the arts, a lot of ego, and a lot of that is gone,” says Adams. “There’s a lot more awareness about being sensitive to people’s well-being. The diva thing – nobody accepts that anymore.” When we speak, Adams has left the studio with Mats Ek. This isn’t the first Rite of Spring that Adams has danced: she was cast as the Chosen One in Pina Bausch’s rousing version, and calls the dance to Stravinsky’s totemic score “powerful,” “moving” and “terrifying.” But Ek’s interpretation of ritual sacrifice is not the Wicker Man scenes in some Rituals, but the story of an arranged marriage. Adams plays the mother of the bride, a complex role. “There’s a lot of internal conflict,” he says. “She has to sacrifice her daughter, but she’s in her own arranged marriage, so that was her predicament.” The process of creating a new role with a choreographer is the most rewarding thing a dancer can do, Adams says. “You can bring your whole self into the room,” he says, which for Adams means a fiber optic body, computational brain and magically big toes.
