Darcey was born to John Crittle, an English based Australian businessman and his English wife Andrea.[1] After the couple divorced when Darcey was three, her mother remarried and Darcey was adopted by her mother's new husband, Australian dentist Philip Bussell. The family spent some time in Australia where Darcey attended school before they returned to London for Darcey to be educated at the Fox Primary School.

[edit] Dancing career

After studying at the Arts Educational School, Bussell began ballet seriously only at the age of 13 when she moved to White Lodge in the Royal Ballet School. After graduating in 1985, she stayed at the school for two further years, appearing in minor productions at Covent Garden, before joining Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in 1987.

While she was still at school, the choreographer Kenneth MacMillan had noticed her talent, and in 1988 he gave her the leading role in his ballet The Prince of the Pagodas to Benjamin Britten's music, causing her to move to The Royal Ballet. A year later, in December 1989, on the opening night of the show, she was promoted to Principal, at the time the youngest ballerina to be given this honour.

Her many roles include Masha in Winter Dreams and Princess Rose in The Prince of the Pagodas, both choreographed by MacMillan, as well as Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Nikiya and Gamzatti in La Bayadère, the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Manon in Manon, and Giselle in Giselle.

She guest starred in the popular BBC1 comedy The Vicar of Dibley as herself.
Darcey Bussell, Carlos Acosta and Gary Avis curtain call for Song of the Earth, 08 Jun 2007.
Darcey Bussell, Carlos Acosta and Gary Avis curtain call for Song of the Earth, 08 Jun 2007.

In 2006 she announced her retirement as a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet, though stayed with the company as "guest principal artist".

She retired from ballet on 8 June 2007 with a performance of MacMillan's Song of the Earth (music Gustav Mahler). It was performed at the Royal Opera House in London, and at the end of the piece she was met with a glorious standing ovation lasting over 8 minutes. It was also broadcast live on BBC Two.[2]

Bussell has recently teamed up with Katherine Jenkins who have organised to stage a song and dance production to pay tribute to the stars which have inspired them[3] which include Madonna and Judy Garland.[4] With a £1 million budget, the show was launched in Manchester in November and is entitled Viva la Diva.[3] Bussell and Jenkins performed a segment of Viva la Diva before the Queen at the 79th Royal Variety Performance which was televised on December 9, 2007.[5]

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