Report of an
interview of Darcey Bussell by David Bain
Swedenborg Hall, London
26 January 2005
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A full house and early closed doors meant
that latecomers missed a fascinating interview
with the Royal Ballet’s only British-born
Principal Ballerina, Darcey Bussell, at
the first Ballet Association meeting in
the New Year.
David Bain opened proceedings by noting
that she had been interviewed by Richard
and Judy on television in the previous
week. Darcey had appeared on their Breakfast
Show around 15 years ago and she had been
surprised that they remembered this earlier
meeting and were keen to ask lots of questions.
She anticipated that tonight would be
a little different!
David asked how she got into dance. Darcey
had taken ballet classes since the age
of five, initially to satisfy her parents’
intention of strengthening her legs and
posture. She had no early ambition to
become a ballerina but her parents found
that it was a good way to burn off excess
energy every Saturday. Eventually, she
went to the Arts Educational School in
London at 11 because she knew that her
future lay on stage, although not necessarily
as a dancer. It was during the first couple
of years that she realised that dance
was her strong point and that she needed
to expand from two dance classes per week.
So, at the age of 13, she auditioned for
the Royal Ballet School, where her mother
had been a pupil for two years. She was
accepted and, after the first year –
by now, aged 14 - she knew that she wanted
to be a dancer. Her mother had not wanted
to push her into ballet and was pleased
that Darcey had found her own way to this
ambition.
This comparatively late coming to full-time
vocational ballet training meant that
Darcey had two years to catch up on her
peers and she found this especially difficult
in the first year at White Lodge. She
was so far behind in the first year that
it seemed as if people came to watch her
in class just to laugh! However, everything
began to fall into place in her second
year and she had a piece choreographed
on her and this meant going to the Upper
School to perform. Having then won a place
in the Upper School, she was entered into
the Prix de Lausanne, which was in itself
quite an achievement for a first year
student: Darcey recalled the feeling of
“having to grow up quickly”
and felt very scared, particularly when
she saw the many other talented young
dancers in competition. Darcey won a prize
to join a summer school with the Monte
Carlo Ballet, which is where, in class
when she was just 16, she met Nureyev
for the first time.
David Bain asked what effect this had
on her early development as a dancer and
could she remember the pieces that she
danced in Lausanne. Darcey recalled that
it was very motivating to see young dancers
from other schools and she remembered
dancing a solo from the ‘Swan Lake’
pas de trois, wearing a long, flowery,
pink dress which her mother declared looked
‘awful’! She also performed
a contemporary piece to her own spoken
verse and competitors had to improvise
choreography by filling in a gap of eight
bars in a piece.
At the end of Upper School, Darcey went
on a Summer tour with Wayne Eagling and
danced the black swan pas de deux, which
was very well received by audiences. She
then joined the Sadler’s Wells Royal
Ballet for one year.
Her very first role with the company was
as a skeleton and she recalled thinking
that “had she really trained all
that time just for a walk on part as a
skeleton”! Nevertheless, within
that first year, she also danced the Queen
of the Wilis, the Lilac Fairy and three
Princess solos from ‘Swan Lake’,
together with ‘Elite Syncopations’
– not a bad ballet CV to have developed
by the age of 18. However, life was not
without its complication in that first
year: she missed a major rehearsal because
she didn’t yet know all the names
and the management were not impressed!
Looking back, Darcey was pleased to have
gone to SWRB since she would not have
had the same opportunities, or the same
exposure, at the Royal Ballet. At the
end of this first season, when she was
slightly injured, she discovered that
Kenneth MacMillan had asked for her to
be transferred to the Royal Ballet for
him to create a ballet on her. Suddenly,
she found herself the target of the press
and was photographed everywhere, even
before she really knew much about what
it was she was going to be doing. Darcey
remembered thinking that she had only
just learned the SWRB ‘Swan Lake’.
‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Fille’
and now she was going to have to learn
all the Royal Ballet Rep.
At the time, Kenneth MacMillan was unwell,
having suffered a heart attack during
a run of ‘Anastasia’, and
they were unable to start work on ‘The
Prince of the Pagodas’ straightaway.
When he returned to work, Darcey and Jonathan
Cope had around four months to create
their roles in this new ballet, including
the four pas de deux. At that early stage
in her career, Darcey had, had little
experience of partnering, but Jonathan
Cope helped a lot – he was so experienced.
Very few people in the main company knew
her and there was a big barrier between
the two companies. She had been warned
not to chat to her new colleagues during
the Soloists’ and Principals’
class and, despite heeding the warning,
she still found herself as the target
for some uncomplimentary remarks. The
whole process was very scary and she felt
that she received many “looks”,
particularly from dancers who had gone
through the ranks.
David asked her about her first roles
with the Royal Ballet and Darcey spoke
about an early performance as the Lilac
Fairy alongside Anthony Dowell. There
had never been any significant mime in
the SWRB version and Darcey found these
early performances to be very difficult
in terms of remembering the mime. She
was absolutely terrified and remembered
not being able to feel the floor with
Dowell whispering to her “just say
yes”! She also recalled that MacMillan
was put out when David Bintley created
a pas de deux for her,.
Her second season with the Royal Ballet
started with ‘The Prince of the
Pagodas’. When asked about what
she remembered about this period, Darcey
said that it was all a major blur. The
company had gone on strike just before
the first night, seeking equal rights
with the Opera Company. The First Night
performance got mixed reviews although
her performance was widely praised. She
felt that the ballet was definitely too
long and that it was incredibly difficult
and tiring to perform, requiring great
athleticism. There were major problems
with the Benjamin Britten Trust about
reducing the ballet and permission to
do so was not secured until after MacMillan’s
death in 1992. She has no regrets that
the ballet has not returned and thinks
that it would be wrong for her to do it
now since the whole libretto requires
the character of a young, innocent girl.
She has very special memories of the ballet
and the wonderful pas de deux in particular.
Darcey was promoted to Principal at the
end of the show on the First Night and
henceforth life was not so nerve-racking
for her at the Royal Ballet although it
was strange to be made Principal so quickly.
She remembers performing ‘Swan Lake’
shortly after being promoted and still
not being able to take it in that she
was a Principal. David Bain noted that
this had been a meteoric rise: from late
starter at the Lower School to Principal
in the main company, all within six years.
Darcey then went on to speak about what
it was like working with MacMillan. Her
overwhelming memory of this relationship
was that MacMillan didn’t want dancers
to know him but that he wanted to know
them in depth. He rarely smiled during
the process of making a work and it was
impossible to know whether he liked what
a dancer was doing or not: because of
her inexperience, it took her a long time
to understand what he wanted and she often
felt, during the creation of ‘Pagodas’
that MacMillan and Cope were “ganging
up” on her.
She never wanted them to see that they
had got to her and she was determined
never to cry in front of MacMillan. She
particularly remembered his attempts to
embarrass her during the creation of ‘Winter
Dreams’: he once asked her if she
knew how to kiss, for example. Notwithstanding
these difficulties, she believes that
Masha is one of the best roles she has
ever performed. Looking back on her career
to date, Darcey considers that she has
been very fortunate to work with so many
great dancers, particularly in the sense
of having had so many talents to feed
off. Asked by David about Irek Mukhamedov,
Darcey replied that he is certainly not
“shy” and that she quickly
learned to get over any inhibitions when
partnering Irek!
She spoke about inviting Kenneth MacMillan
to her 21st Birthday Party, where the
whole of SWRB and the RB were there. She
was touched that he came with his family
and he gave her an amazing present. It
was the first time that she really understood
that he cared. She felt that it is ‘incredibly
tough’ that he is no longer around
and it was very sad that he was unable
to do as much work as he would have wanted
in his last years. At the time she worked
with him, his techniques made her feel
‘raw’ and sometimes even ‘ugly’
but now she knew that being put through
that pain was a necessary condition of
enabling the story to be told through
her body and she believes that this is
why audiences love his work.
David Bain asked about working with other
choreographers. Darcey spoke about working
with David Bintley who prepares a piece
in great detail. He has the whole idea
in his mind and has the steps largely
planned before entering the studio. MacMillan
had a set idea for his choreography but
he needed to look at dancers before he
could visualise the steps in detail. Darcey
enjoyed working with Chris Wheeldon whom
she thought to be a great choreographer.
She had also really enjoyed working with
John Neumaier in Hamburg: she thought
that it was a great shame that he had
not been asked to do anything here and
had found the creative process with him
to be very exciting. She wished that she
could do more work like that.
Darcey has been a guest with many international
companies: such as the Kirov; Hamburg
Ballet; Australian Ballet; New York City
Ballet; and Paris Opera Ballet. She feels
that it is good to get out and work with
other companies although she is not keen
on the ‘gala circuit’ where
nothing of note is learned apart from
“getting tougher”. On the
other hand, working for 3 to 4 week sessions
with another company is great. She especially
loved the experience of working with Australian
Ballet in 1995/6 (under Ross Stretton’s
direction). They are a good, young company.
She had an extensive stint of guesting
around the time that the Royal Opera House
was closed and this worked very well for
her. The best experience, however, was
when she was a guest dancer at the New
York City Ballet in the early 1990s. At
the time she didn’t want to leave
and would have happily stayed in New York
but she had just met her husband-to-be
and the call back to London was too great
to resist. Now, she is glad that she came
back to London. Darcey praised the policy
of the Royal Ballet in allowing flexibility
for dancers to guest with other companies.
She believes that this policy enables
the Royal Ballet to hold onto its best
dancers, particularly those, like herself,
who are always very keen to acquire new
knowledge.
David Bain then asked Darcey about her
more recent career and the added pressures
of being a mother to two daughters, coupled
with the difficulties she has faced with
injury. The ankle injury had forced her
to take a break and Darcey said that it
is amazing what passes through one’s
head during these traumatic times. The
operation was the best decision she had
ever made since she has come back as a
much different person and her ankle is
stronger than ever. The enforced rest
after the birth of her youngest daughter
had also helped to ensure that the ankle
had been properly repaired. Prior to the
operation, she had been in immense discomfort
and her ankle was often completely numb.
Now, she has no pain on landing.
She had not envisaged that she would still
be dancing now but feels very good about
her dancing at present and has mastered
new roles (such as ‘Sylvia’)
which she would not have enjoyed had she
retired a season or so ago. She is enjoying
her dancing more than ever and has developed
a comfortable balance between ballet and
family. Although her work can be very
time-consuming and it is difficult to
establish a regular pattern, she can be
home by 4.30pm on non-performance days.
Phoebe (now 3 and a half) is very conscious
of her mother’s job and was very
keen for her to be ‘Cinderella’!
When she watched a performance over the
Christmas period, she thought that her
Mum had the best job in the world, although
she may not feel quite the same about
‘Manon’! Phoebe had been devastated
by the drab grey dress of ‘Cinderella’
and had ordered her Mother to become a
princess: she had also been quite terrified
of the ugly sisters, especially when they
came up to her in full costume and had
deep male voices! But Darcey does remember
that she slept well that night!
In response to the first question from
the audience, Darcey said that the role
that she most regretted not performing
is Kitri in ‘Don Quixote’.
She had always wanted to perform the solo
from Act I and on the one occasion that
she had the opportunity to do so, she
suffered a stress fracture in her foot,
and was in such pain that she was unable
to perform.
In response to a question about the choreography
in which she feels most ‘comfortable’,
Darcey said that she has always loved
the challenge of classical technique and
she is happiest with a wide variety of
roles. However, she feels more ‘natural’
affinity for work by Balanchine and Forsythe.
Although she has already been fortunate
to have had a long career as a Principal
dancer there is so much brilliant work
out there that she wants to perform but
dancers are so restricted with the amount
of work that they can learn and perform
in a career, whilst they still feel and
look good.
She was asked how she had found the role
of ‘Sylvia’ in the recent
reconstruction of Ashton’s ballet.
Darcey said that she had been apprehensive
since Ashton’s choreography is not
‘her style’ but she felt that
it was one of the best roles she had ever
done. The steps, especially in the Pizzicato
solo, were immensely difficult to achieve
but, having succeeded, she had found the
whole experience to be huge fun. She had
started work on it in July and was immensely
honoured to be asked and very excited
to be so involved in recreating the ballet,
particularly since she had always loved
Delibes’ score. She had been delighted
with the audience’s response and
hoped that it would remain a regular part
of the Royal Ballet’s Rep.
David Bain asked Darcey to reveal some
of her most embarrassing moments to conclude
the interview. She remembered one incident
where her head-dress was not properly
secured, as sometimes more pins in the
head-dress make it worse, and it half
fell off. Her partner tried to help her
by pulling it off completely and only
succeeded in whipping her and hitting
himself in the face, causing immense pain
to them both! On another occasion, early
in her career, she remembered her ribbons
breaking in both the matinee and evening
performance of the same day and now she
never goes on stage without four elastic
straps inside the ribbons as a safeguard.
She mentioned that Miyako Yoshida uses
dental floss to sew on her ribbons because
she is so concerned about them breaking.
Closing the interview, David Bain thanked
Darcey for giving up her precious time
to come and speak to the Association members,
particularly since it meant that she was
giving up some of her quality time with
her family.
© The Ballet Association 2005
Graham Watts
Report checked and corrected by Darcey
Bussell and David Bain
May 2005
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