Words matter. These are the best Darcey Bussell Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I love Australia; it’s such an outdoor life.
The best thing is to lie in a warm Epsom salts bath for 15 minutes and then go straight to bed. You will sleep really well afterwards.
In the dance world, it has to be in your genetic make-up – your body has to suit the training.
Over the years, I’ve had two ankle operations, torn my hamstring, had my hip resurfaced, and snapped the anterior cruciate ligament in my knee.
Being a ballerina can be a very unnatural life, especially after you’ve had children.
Dancing has always been a passion for me, one that I will probably never be rid of.
We only open a couple of presents on Christmas morning; we’re all about the stockings – we even get them for the dogs!
Life is short, so go for things you enjoy.
I need to have dark chocolate in the cupboard – Green & Black’s is good, but any will do.
I hate when I get stiff, and I really notice that.
If I had a caterer that lived at home, it would be fabulous!
You tend to regret the things you haven’t done.
I’ve always been quite famous for my nose.
Before a show, I usually give myself two-and-a-half hours to get ready. I prepare my shoes first. New ballet pumps can sound like tap shoes. You have to take the noise out of them by hitting them against stone. It takes half an hour to do each pair, and I can go through three pairs in one night.
If I start something, I have to finish it. I know that’s annoying – it drives my husband mad – but even if something’s not going my way, I have to see it through.
When I started on ‘Strictly,’ I was terrified. Live television seemed like the most daunting thing in the world.
When I started, there was a very strong image of what the ballerina was supposed to be in her tights and her costume, and then I started doing photo shoots in bomber boots, and it wasn’t seen as the done thing.
I am not a big vitamin-taker. I have vitamin C during the winter, but eating lots of fruit and veg does the trick.
My mum sent me to ballet from the age of five, not because I was that into it but because I had really knock knees.
My husband is Australian, and my family is scattered around the U.K. and France mostly, but we try to get a big group together for the holidays.
I need help to ensure I grow old gracefully! So now I always apply moisturiser and foundation with an SPF, to protect my skin from the sun.
I’ve always been quite conscious of it, though I don’t know why. I would never overspend, and I have to know exactly what I’ve got so that I avoid going into overdraft. I watch my pennies, and I’m quite thrifty.
When I had kids, I had to work out how to keep my stamina up. I learned the power of protein and eating a variety of foods.
The hardest thing about ‘Strictly’ is having to sit still for so long; it just about kills me.
Sometimes I regret that I don’t have a bit more fun with money. I should have spoilt myself a bit more. Life isn’t going to last for ever.
Classical ballet is very extreme. You’re doing it six days a week, and it’s a kind of obsession of perfecting a move. So every muscle in your body has been stretched and tightened, stretched and tightened.
My main vice is Herta frankfurters – it’s amazing that they stay fresh for ages. They’re not very healthy, but they are my treat.
I do a Zumba class at least twice a week, which entertains me and keeps me fit, and I have two dogs that I walk regularly.
I’m not a big cook at all, but anything easy and quick, like pasta, I’m up to. My husband cooks for me because he finds cooking relaxing.
I wanted to inspire every little girl who wants to be a dancer to fire their imagination about the joys of being on the stage.
I know, for me, dance did inspire me. Not just in how I feel but that confidence of being able to hold myself and come into a room and just feel comfortable with my body and how I stand and how you present yourself and just how you wear clothes, even.
Looking after myself is something I probably have to be much more conscious of than the average person.
One thing I’ve learned from ‘Strictly’ is timing and the craft of the talk.
The orthopaedic surgeon said that if ever I had hip or groin pain, I should rest until the pain went. However, resting is not part of a dancer’s life – so I just danced through the pain.
Ballet is a healthy world despite what people might think. There’s a perception that ballet dancers are skinny and unhealthy, but that’s rubbish. You have to be strong, so eating regularly and healthily is essential.
As long as everything is happy at home, I can be totally selfish at work.
Ever since I’ve given up dancing, every physiotherapist or Pilates teacher has said you have to keep moving. If I don’t, I’ll have a hundred times more injuries because you get weak areas on your body.
I can’t imagine leaving the theatre altogether. My dressing room has become a home from home.
I didn’t worry too much about staying in shape once I’d stopped dancing. You get to the point where you just burn out and have to give your body a chance to heal.
When I coach dancers, I always like to get on the dance floor with them or describe something by showing them.
When I was a teenager, I used to watch the ‘Making Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller” video and try to follow the steps and do the ‘Thriller’ moves in my bedroom. That was the most incredible dance sequence.
You don’t just become a success overnight.
Dancers are working their bodies just like a marathon runner would, and you have to eat to make it through a three-hour performance. Dancers put their bodies through incredible strain.
Fonteyn was our first proper British ballerina, and from the moment I started dancing, her image engulfed me. In my first year at the Royal Ballet School, Margot’s statue was outside my dormitory. Like generations of budding ballet dancers before me, I used to touch her middle finger for luck.
I suppose you could say there is an in-built stubbornness to me.
Since finishing my professional dancing career, I’ve been conscious of not letting myself go.
For me, in my life, dyslexia has been a little bit of a blessing. It helped me find my strength and directed me towards what I really wanted to do.
My ‘new’ knee now feels like a bionic knee compared with my old one.
Everything is not beautiful at the ballet. It’s tough.
Being on stage taught me how to apply eyeliner.
I danced so intensely, I learned the hard way that sometimes you can push your body too far.
If I’m dehydrated, my muscles feel almost squeaky.
I don’t get much sleep, so I have really bad bags under my eyes.
Confidence comes from other places, not just how you look.
It is entertainment; we mustn’t forget that. Dance is entertainment. You can have the best technicians in the world, but they’ll be boring to watch. It has to be about entertainment as well, but it’s quality, grace.
