Ray Burmiston BBC
Since 2012, every weekend from September to December, Darcey Bussell has been beamed into the nation’s living rooms, fulfilling her role as the ‘kind, but fair’ member of the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel.
The TV show, which famously pairs celebrities with professional dancers – with varying degrees of success – comes complete with its own Strictly fever; and Darcey, carefully coiffured, tastefully made-up and beautifully attired in an array of gorgeous gowns, shoes and jaw-skimming earrings, has sashayed her way down the famous staircase at Elstree Studios into the hearts of the viewing public.
The South West London resident freely admits to loving “the bling and all the lovely shiny bits”. As I am about to discover, however, there is a lot more to Dame Darcey Bussell than her Strictly persona.
There's the newly publication of Evolved: a stunning coffee table collection of photos and stories charting Darcey’s career in dance, from her first principal roles at just 20 to her retirement from ballet and subsequent projects, the Strictly phenomenon and her damehood in the New Year Honours.
Aside from the sheer beauty of some of the images – taken by the likes of Lord Snowdon, Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz and Patrick Demarchelier – the book provides a fascinating insight into her life and the wider world of dance. She must be very proud of it, I suggest.
“I am!” she confirms in her distinctive, emphatic way. “It’s strange having a book about yourself, but I realized that there was a lot to discuss – not just about me, but also about people I had worked with and how they all saw dance. It took a long time to collate all the stories, but it was fun and I’m so glad I did it.”
As the title suggests, Evolved illustrates Darcey’s changing career over the years and how she has pushed creative boundaries. Many of the images, for example, are taken from advertising shoots: an innovation that, at the time, did not always go down well with traditionalists.
“Some people criticized me for moving too far in a commercial direction, but I think my passion always came through. I wasn’t there to create a shock or scandal of any kind. It was always respectful,” she insists.
The book also mirrors how dance itself, and ballet, in particular, has changed over the decades.
“The dance world had to evolve! It was time to break the mould of those traditions that we value so much; to show that you can hold onto them and still move forward, being more creative without diminishing what you’ve already worked your socks off to produce. I loved working with people who danced in a certain, individual way and wanted to express things differently. There’s a lot of sweat and tears and pain, but you’re creating something really magical in a new light, for a new audience.”
Born in 1969 to Andrea Williams and Australian businessman John Crittle, the new arrival began life as Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle. Something of a mouthful, I venture. She laughs at the “theatrical” designation, but it’s conversational territory that she is clearly unwilling to visit. “I don’t really want to go there,“ she tells me. Her parents split up when she was young and she was later adopted by her mother’s second husband, Australian dentist Philip Bussell. Her parents, she says, had no idea that her career would turn out as it did, but they did know that their daughter was “a workaholic”.
After a spell in Australia, the family returned to the UK, Darcey joining the Royal Ballet Lower School at White Lodge, in Richmond Park, at the age of 13. On graduating from the Upper School she entered the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, transferring to The Royal Ballet a year later. It was here, in 1989, that her career took flight. Singled out by Kenneth MacMillan for the lead in his Covent Garden production of The Prince of the Pagodas, she was promoted to the principal dancer on the opening night.
All the major classical ballet roles followed, as well as a number created especially for Darcey. She was a guest performer with several of the world’s leading companies, including the La Scala Theatre Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet and the Kirov. In 1997 she married Australian fund manager Angus Forbes and, unusually for a professional ballerina, continued to dance principal roles despite having two young daughters, Phoebe and Zoe. Then, in 2007, came retirement.
“Fortunately I had quite a few things set up, as I knew the transition would be hard. One show I did was called Viva La Diva, with Katherine Jenkins, which gave me a great focus. Of course, giving up the only thing you’ve ever known – the thing that’s been your confidence, your everything – it’s always going to be a massive loss. But… I was really lucky. I’d had my two girls during my career and I couldn’t wait for the chance to be with them each day.”
She is as passionate about dance as ever, coaching current principals at The Royal Ballet and using it herself as a tool for keeping fit and “sane”, as well as for inspiring others.
“Exercise has to have a lot of variety and be entertaining. I have created a dance fitness programme called Diverse Dance Mix (DDMIX), which I love doing once or twice a week and which we are starting to take into state schools. I’m passionate about having all our kids doing dance fitness as part of PE. I feel happier and healthier if I keep fitter. For me it’s very much about health and wellbeing, about balance and having time to breathe. Still, I’m very conscious of not doing it to extremes, as I don’t want my daughters to worry about image first, ever! I want them to think about their health from the inside out.”
The benefit of dance for mental health is the subject of Darcey’s new BBC2 documentary, Dancing to Happiness, due to air before Christmas. She is full of enthusiasm for the project.
BBC/Matchlight BBC/Matchlight
“We worked with a group of young adults under 26 – an age when it’s so hard to express or understand yourself,” she explains. “The result is a fascinating insight into how dance has many facades, and how useful it can be, especially now our lives have become so urban and compact. Dance is a brilliant way of expressing emotions and can unlock memories.”
Earlier that day, Darcey had herself been interviewing Natalia Makarova (77), the Russian choreographer and former prima ballerina, for a live relay from Covent Garden.
“She is quite extraordinary and still going!” laughs Darcey. “She coached me several decades ago and now she’s coaching the next generation.”
With her own passion and experience – and, yes, that Strictly magic – we’ll no doubt be saying the same thing about Darcey for decades to come.
Strictly Gossip
Guy Levy BBC
LIVE SHOW
Q. On Strictly, you wore some amazing dresses! Do you get to keep them?
“Sadly I don’t get to keep the dresses and I don’t think I could ever have a wardrobe big enough to hold even half of them! I had a lot of fun wearing them though. I had to be able to sit in them and walk in them but sometimes I came out and realised I cannot walk in them and that was a bit of a worry…”
Q. Did you get nervous/excited when the show started?
“Yes, I get a thrill when the music starts! There’s an extraordinary energy that’s generated and you feel like you’re riding an amazing wave of excitement and that comes off you and resonates off all the celebrities… It’s lovely!”
Q. If you were stuck in an elevator, which one of the judges would you like to be stuck with?
“If I had to be stuck in a lift with one of the judges… it would have to be Craig! He’s very entertaining, has lots of ideas and is always doing new things.”
Q. Why do the celebrities always experience a ‘journey’?
"The show empowers them! They learn a totally new skill, perhaps one they never believed was for them. They sometimes find it difficult to explain why they feel so different but there’s no doubt that it’s rewarding and fulfilling.”
- Darcey Bussell Evolved is published by Hardie Grant, £30
- Darcey Bussell: Dancing to Happiness airs on BBC2 in the coming weeks.
- DDMix classes are currently run in Richmond, Wimbledon and Walton on Thames. Visit diversedancemix.com for further details
- Visit bbc.co.uk/strictly for the latest updates
