Darcey Bussell

Darcey Bussell0:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand and six, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:30

My castaway this week is a ballerina. At the age of nineteen she was plucked from the Corda Ballet at Saddler's Wells and went on to dance the principal role in a new full length work at the Royal Ballet called Prince of the Pagodas.

Presenter0:42

The first performance was rapturously received by the audience, and when the curtain fell she was invited to become principal ballerina of the company. Are you sure? is all she could say. They were sure, and rightly so. Since that night seventeen years ago she's danced to mighty applause through most of ballet's classical roles and many of its newly created ones too, on both the national and international stage. Recently she announced she was going to bring her full time career to a close this summer. Perhaps it's the discipline on which she thrived as a dancer that's helped her make such a tough decision. I was determined, she says, that my career would not just fizzle out. She is the principal ballerina of the Royal Ballet, Darcy

Presenter1:24

You made that announcement back in October, Darcy. Have you had any second thoughts since? My husband has.

Darcey Bussell1:28

Um

Presenter1:30

Well, he'd like you to keep going. Yeah. And though he says you sure you know, you can change your mind. You don't just because you've made an announcement. But actually, it's taken me long enough, you know, to make it and I know the decision is right. Why do you know it's right?

Darcey Bussell1:41

White

Presenter1:43

I think just because of trying to cope with the pressures, and I have two gorgeous children, and I feel like sometimes, you know, I love my work and I love every bit about it, but I can't always do both. They're two and five, your children, your daughters aren't. Yeah, my youngest is two. So, is there a kind of then a kind of bubble of excitement in you? Is there a sense of liberation that you get to this time? Yeah, there is a great feeling of.

Darcey Bussell1:59

Uh

Speaker 31:59

They're two and five.

Darcey Bussell2:00

Maybe your children's on the other side.

Darcey Bussell2:09

Yeah.

Presenter2:13

you know, I'm very satisfied with my work and I d have no regrets. And then there's a oh, I want to hang on to it and do more, I want to do more, I want to do more Um, but I it's that thing where I have been so lucky and done everything I've wanted to do and had two children. So

Presenter2:28

I don't wanna push it and and I and I And you want to go out on a hike?

Darcey Bussell2:30

Anyone

Presenter2:32

I would love to finish well, you know, and feel really good about myself. Your difficulty is, of course, that people think, well, you know, she can dance, it's a lovely thing to do, she looks beautiful doing it, she smiles like an angel when she's doing it. It's obviously lovely. Why is she going to stop? Yeah, I know it's funny because everybody goes, Oh, but you still look like you're only 18. And you go.

Darcey Bussell2:36

Your deficiency

Darcey Bussell2:42

Only she smiled.

Presenter2:52

But I don't feel like that. And um my body just doesn't recover as quick as it used to. And that's painful. So you come in and you know, I had Rome and Juliet the other day and the next morning I was on stage doing another ballet, you know, early in the morning and

Presenter3:09

It's not as easy for me. I mean, it might look the same as it does on everybody else, but it's actually more painful on my joints. And are there activities that you don't do because you're frightened of injury? There's a lot. I don't ski, I don't play tennis. I wouldn't do hardly any sports, and I love sports. I do swim. Obviously, I wouldn't put much strain on my body. But you just want to keep your fitness and you want to look good all the time. So you never let your guard down. And I just need to let my guard down a little bit more. I want to find out what it's going to be like with your guard down. Let's have a piece of music first. My first piece is Golden Brown by The Stranglers. Instrumentally, I think it's unique and it's a good feeling song, and I like it.

Speaker 33:58

Golden Brown, find a temptress Through the ages she's heading west From far away, stays for a day Never a frown with Golden Brown

Presenter4:22

That was the Stranglers and Golden Brown. Let's talk then, Darcy, about how you got on the leash. I mentioned in the introduction that it was December the 7th, 1989. The moment the curtain came down, it was announced that you were going to be the new principal ballerina. You were 20 years old. Was it completely unexpected? Totally, totally unexpected. I mean, you usually do quite a few principal roles before you're made a principal. And I mean, I'd done a couple before pagodas. And no, I was no way expecting it. And that was a big shock. Especially in front of the whole company, usually you do those things privately because we were on stage with everybody. And I was just in the stage shock. I didn't know what to say. And I did ask. You sure about this one? No, and it was lovely. It was lovely. It must have been a shock for the rest of the company as well. Perhaps, you know, something some of them might have resented somewhere. Yeah, well, I hadn't been in the company long. I'd only been there really for a year and a bit. So it was very strange. But was there any resentment? I was already stealing quite a few roles from some of the solarists anyway, and that's always tough. I mean, I'm sure I wouldn't have liked it if somebody had stepped in my shoes. You were different. I mean, you weren't the kind of traditional looking ballerina, were you? English ballerina, no? No. You weren't small for a style. No, I was tall and everybody thought I was American. I was more athletic, I suppose, than our usual

Darcey Bussell5:10

Dwell.

Speaker 45:32

Except in my shoes.

Darcey Bussell5:38

English ballerina.

Darcey Bussell5:41

Uh

Presenter5:48

Set Palerinas that came up the ranks, and so I had a different attack.

Darcey Bussell5:51

And

Presenter5:54

And that's what, of course, Kenneth Macmillan, so Kenneth Macmillan did, the the great choreographer who who discovered you, that's what he liked. And he'd been looking, hadn't he? Yeah, no, no, I mean, when I did the school performance, he chose me when I was actually only sixteen, yeah. And so he obviously had it in his mind quite a bit. He said you had an enormous jump, didn't he?

Darcey Bussell5:58

Uh

Darcey Bussell6:02

Yeah, no, no.

Darcey Bussell6:11

He said you had a n

Presenter6:13

I have, yeah. I've been very lucky. My jump has always stayed with me, even though I've had two operations on my ankle. Still there now?

Darcey Bussell6:19

Everything

Presenter6:20

It's still there now, I can still jump.

Presenter6:23

But you might have been a gymnast, I guess. A swimmer. Swimmer or gymnast. The gymnastics, that's where I started my ballet, really, because I love gymnastics. And it was funny, funny, because I was actually too tall to do that. And then I realised, well, the gymnastics wasn't going to work, and I enjoyed the ballet, so I kept that going. Nicole number two. Tell me about that. Oh, well, we've just been performing this. This is Picoffiov's Romeo and Juliet. And this is a magical part for me. It's one of probably the best padders. And it's basically where we first really, really meet, where we connect me and Romeo and Juliet and Romeo. And it's very special. It's got some wonderful choreographic moves in it. Not that you're going to see those, but you can imagine them with the music.

Presenter8:07

That was the love dance, or the balcony scene as they call it in the trade, from act one of Profiev's Romeo and Juliet, played by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Speaker 48:11

Death

Presenter8:16

Conducted by Mark Ermler. It's amazing actually, because she sits on this bed in the third movement, in third act, and that's when she decides she's going to take the potion and make this decision. She goes to the friar to say, help me, you've got to help me do this. How can we work this out so I can be with Romeo forever?

Darcey Bussell8:21

Yeah.

Presenter8:54

And you're f feeling all of that. Oh, yeah. No. Technically you don't have to worry about too many steps. The girl can get totally involved in the role, and I can forget that anybody is out there watching me, and I can cry and I can oh, everything. There's a bit where she actually is sick.

Darcey Bussell8:56

Oh yeah.

Presenter9:11

And you can feel it building up inside you yourself, you know, because the music is so perfect.

Presenter9:16

and um how overcome she is with distress that this potion's got to stay in her or it's not going to work and then she won't see him and all these things. It's amazing. You you obviously love that acting side of it, did you

Darcey Bussell9:28

Thank you.

Presenter9:29

Your mother, I think, said from when you were very small that you should be on the stage in some form. She knew you were a performer. A performer. And she was, wasn't she? Or maybe still is. I don't know. No, she's not. She's not. She did dabble in she went to the Rob Alice golf.

Darcey Bussell9:33

Yeah, no, she definitely knew

Darcey Bussell9:41

And

Darcey Bussell9:43

And so

Presenter9:49

And she did two years, but uh she definitely wasn't passionate about it at all.

Darcey Bussell9:49

Uh

Presenter9:54

But she sent you to stage school, didn't she? I went to stage school'cause she knew that's where I should be, and then from there I chose ballet, and I made her. No, I said I've got to go to the robot school. She said, No, no, no, you'll hate it, you'll hate it. It's too disciplined. Oh, really? Because she'd found it too disciplined. Yeah, she hated the discipline, and luckily I thrived on it.

Darcey Bussell10:08

Because she

Darcey Bussell10:09

Yeah.

Presenter10:13

But you came to it late, didn't you?'Cause you went finally to White Lodge in the middle of Richmond Park to the Royal Bellies Lower School. And you went at thirteen and normally you would have gone at eleven. At eleven, ten or eleven, yeah. So I'd missed the first two years and and that was a big shock because

Speaker 410:16

To the middle

Darcey Bussell10:18

Uh

Speaker 410:18

Yeah.

Darcey Bussell10:18

Yeah.

Speaker 410:19

Yeah.

Speaker 410:22

At a large number.

Presenter10:28

My first year, I thought I'd made a big mistake and thought, oh my goodness, I can't do ballet. I can't do anything that they're doing. I was so far behind. And I.

Presenter10:38

I suppose I was in shock that it wasn't all fun. How old were you when you finally decided, yes, this this is it. I really feel like a ballerina. Yeah, it's very late. It is very late, actually, in the ballet world. And were you determined then to go right to the top?

Darcey Bussell10:46

I am going to be late at Ballerina. Yeah, that's very late.

Presenter10:54

Yes. Oh no, I only wanted to do it if I was going to be at the top. It was that awful thing where you kind of have this set in your mind and I see all these dancers destroyed when they're told that they're not going to make it and they're going to constantly have injuries because they have a very stiff back or they have no turnout or all these things. And you kind of go, how could that possibly stop me from being what I love to do? I take it the turnout is the turning out of the body. Yes, that's right. It's right in the hips. Yes. Yeah. No. I mean it was I had actually an injury when I auditioned for the Royal Ballet School that I was very worried that they were going to notice because I had really badly sprained my ankle. How do you hide a sprained ankle without that? Yeah, very difficult. The swelling had never gone down. I think they just probably thought my ankle just looked like that normally.

Darcey Bussell11:18

Uh

Speaker 411:18

B

Darcey Bussell11:18

Yes, that's right.

Speaker 411:20

It's right ahead.

Darcey Bussell11:33

Very different.

Presenter11:41

I don't know. It's sort of a series of auditions, isn't it? You have about four. And you kept coming through. Luckily. Record number three. It's Love, Love Me Do by The Beatles. My parents played a lot of The Beatles, obviously. And I don't think they're ever gonna age, basically. The songs are just magical and it's one of my favourites.

Darcey Bussell11:44

You have about

Speaker 412:04

Love the redo

Speaker 412:07

You know I love you.

Speaker 412:10

I've always been true.

Presenter12:26

Love Me Do and Beatles and happy memories of a childhood in West London where you were brought up with two siblings, I think. Brother and sister, yeah. Brother and sister. The children of Philip Bussell, who's a dentist. Yes.

Darcey Bussell12:34

Yeah.

Darcey Bussell12:35

As the children of

Presenter12:38

Forgive me for asking,'cause I know it's delicate, but your your biological father, your real father, uh, was Australian, wasn't he? They're both Australian, actually. Oh, aren't they? Both my dads are Australian. But he did a bunk your your biological father. Yeah, and they when I was born he went back to Australia.

Darcey Bussell12:46

Yeah.

Darcey Bussell12:50

Yeah.

Presenter12:52

But he was quite a a colourful character, I gather. He was also I don't know, I never knew him. Didn't you? No. I thought he was a well, you know it's been in the newspapers, he was a Carnaby Street designer, and he knew the Beatles, didn't he? Yeah. That sort of thing.

Darcey Bussell12:57

I mean it was a

Darcey Bussell12:59

I'd have been

Darcey Bussell13:03

Yeah.

Presenter13:05

I mean, it is difficult, but he he did try to find you once, didn't he? Um, I was performing with Australian Ballet. But he's I think he's seen me dance quite a few times, um, but I never had the courage to actually come and see me.

Presenter13:19

Oh, really? But so did you dance in Australia thinking he might be out there? Yeah, yeah.

Darcey Bussell13:20

And so did you

Darcey Bussell13:23

There.

Presenter13:25

I'd hope he'd see me.

Darcey Bussell13:25

I hope you'd see me.

Presenter13:26

No, I didn't really think about it because I've never known him, so it never I had a father, so I didn't I didn't see it like that. But he he tried to get in touch, but you didn't really want to know. No, no, I was quite happy to meet him, but I didn't think he wanted to meet me on my own. Maybe he was a bit theatrical and wanted to meet me with a lot of other people, and I wanted to meet him on my own.

Presenter13:50

But it never happened. Yeah. But I don't have any regrets. No,'cause he he's died, hasn't he? Yes, yes.

Speaker 413:55

Yeah.

Presenter13:56

I know you've had your children.

Presenter13:58

since he died. And I just wondered whether your now experience of parenthood has changed your attitude. Parenthood is very special, but for me I had parents, so I didn't didn't see it like that.

Speaker 414:04

No, I mean

Darcey Bussell14:08

I didn't

Presenter14:10

As far as you are concerned, Philip Bussell, whose name you took.

Presenter14:13

I I did read, though, I must say, that you were were christened, or were you christened, or you were given the names Marnie Mercedes. Oh no, you don't bring this up. I do. There's wonderful names. Why didn't you use them? Uh, my mother kept changing my name.

Speaker 414:20

I was there.

Presenter14:29

She obviously knew I was going to be on the stage, I don't know. Yeah. So but you're happy with Darcy? Very much. I think Mahony was a Hitchcock character. Yes, no, I know. I have the book and everything. No, I'm still called Mahony. Are you?

Presenter14:41

Bye, friends. Next piece of music. Next piece is Mozart's Requiem. I suppose when I started at the Royal Ballet School, I hadn't really listened to a lot of music. And I got all into this classical music and found a lot of requiems that I just was addicted to. And I'd stay in my room, and I think my poor mother would say, you know, you're home for the weekend, you can go out, you know, and visit your friends. And I'd stay home listening to requiems. And this was one of my favourites. And hopefully, one day I'll do a ballet to this one. It's lovely.

Presenter16:16

Part of the Lacrymosa from Mozart's Requiem, performed by the Academy and Chorus of Saint Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Mariner.

Presenter16:24

Darcy Bustle Bally is an art, you don't win competitions for it, it has to come from the heart, as you've said. And when you're up there, as as we've established, you know, you're looking beautiful, there's a smile on your face, but there can be terrible pain behind that smile, can't you?

Presenter16:48

And you do have to put this front on, and you only ever really feel the pain as soon as you come off the stage. And you see that your feet are bleeding.

Darcey Bussell16:54

I see that.

Presenter16:56

It's really strange. I mean, the other day I was dancing with La Scala.

Presenter17:00

And I was doing man on, which is a brilliant Sir Kenneth Miller Ballet. And they would do this fabulous lift, it's right at the end of the ballet. And the guy had a buckle on his shirt, which he doesn't usually have, it's like a clip. And as he brought me down, I literally ripped all the skin off my hip when he was catching me from this lift, because it's a big throw lift.

Presenter17:24

And I didn't even know. I mean, I knew there was this kind of hot pain.

Presenter17:28

And when I was lying on the floor, and I die at that point, of course, it was so perfect. Oh, that was awesome. And you should have seen, look, because it was the first time I danced with La Scala, and these Italian.

Darcey Bussell17:33

No, that was a one.

Presenter17:37

Dancers in the wings just going

Presenter17:39

The blood, the blood in Italian like this and asking, Oh, like this, whereas the curtain went down and I had blood running down my leg and they said it was so effective, oh, it was amazing Can you do it again next time? It was awful'cause I had to repeat the valley the next two nights.

Darcey Bussell17:50

Yeah.

Presenter17:54

And in the long term, is the price you pay arthritis? I haven't interviewed a biologist.

Darcey Bussell17:59

I haven't interviewed a barrier who hasn't always said that.

Presenter18:03

Is that true you might have to have a false hip or something? Like that. And I said, there's a lot of dancers that have had false hips and at a very early age. A lot of dancers have them, you know, 55, 60. If not earlier, I mean, what it means is you are asking extraordinary things of your body. That's why it's so important that the body is built to dance. And I think I've been very lucky with my injuries, you know, even though I've had two operations on my ankle. Because your body just wears and tears quicker, much quicker. And it's so unnatural what we do to it. And much more athletic than it ever used to be. So it takes.

Darcey Bussell18:06

Come on.

Darcey Bussell18:14

Yeah.

Darcey Bussell18:15

Modi

Darcey Bussell18:18

Things of your

Darcey Bussell18:19

That's

Darcey Bussell18:32

Much quicker.

Darcey Bussell18:37

Yeah.

Presenter18:39

So much out of you, all of the things you've described, all the pain, all the agony.

Darcey Bussell18:40

Only

Presenter18:43

Um

Presenter18:44

The earnings aren't comparable, are they? No. Yeah, it's it is you don't need to do it if you love it. You said people would laugh if they knew how little you are. Yeah, very much. I mean, we have um

Darcey Bussell18:52

Yeah.

Presenter18:57

I mean, people that can't even rent in London now. You would expect that, of course, for for a member of the chorus for the of the Corps de Ballet, but for the principal ballerina for the international star.

Darcey Bussell19:08

Push.

Presenter19:09

It is unbelievable. I mean, I can go abroad and I can perform in lots of different opera houses and with lots of different companies, and you can ask silly amounts of money. Um, but it's how much you really want to do that. I don't want to leave my children any more, you see. So if I go and guest with companies, it will be in Europe now.

Presenter19:28

And they'll have to make it worth your while.

Darcey Bussell19:28

And they'll have

Darcey Bussell19:29

Uh

Presenter19:32

Next piece of music, number five. Number five, well this is a wonderful, wonderful pard deur by Sir Frederick Ashton and it's Thais, the meditation of Thais and I actually had this played at my wedding and it was so magical in the church. I mean it is a magical piece anyway, the violin, uh solo, it's just superb and uh means of

Presenter20:52

Part of Massenet's Meditation de Thais played by Josef Sakhanov with the London Festival Orchestra and we can see the movement here again, can't we? Very much. No, she comes on right at the beginning under a beautiful piece of chiffon and she is just like this vision to him, this wonderful, you know, masculine man standing like in the middle of the stage and he's just like

Presenter21:16

Falls in love instantly, and it's perfect. It's really so it's perfect for your wedding. It was to Angus Forbes.

Darcey Bussell21:19

Yeah.

Presenter21:24

An Australian with a Scottish name who lived next door in Fulham. You married the boy next door, is that right? I know. I was the girl next door.

Presenter21:32

How much support has he been for? I'm sure he's been a lot, but it's very difficult, isn't it? Because ultimately, if you are a star in that this very particular and demanding and disciplined art,

Presenter21:45

No one can really help you, can they? Because you've got to talk to yourself. Yeah, it's very selfish art.

Darcey Bussell21:48

It is all up to you.

Presenter21:52

And he's been an amazing support, even having the kids and knowing how they mean so much and how I don't want to lose that connection with them just because I'm a dancer. So it must have been a very big decision to have children, because you could have waited. You're thirty-six now. I mean, a lot of women have children at a later age than that. I didn't want to risk it. Yeah, I just didn't want to risk it. I'd seen a lot of dancers, I suppose, have fabulous careers and then desperately wanted the family and it didn't happen. And it did take me a long time. And I was very worried that we weren't going to be ha able to have children.

Darcey Bussell22:10

Children

Darcey Bussell22:11

I didn't want to risk it.

Presenter22:29

I just can't believe actually it's it's happened and that I I look at them every day and I go, Wow, where did they come from? But it must have been a very strange experience.

Darcey Bussell22:31

Uh

Speaker 322:31

The

Speaker 322:34

Where did they come from?

Presenter22:38

I mean, not just a bit of a sacrifice, which is im implicit, but but also for someone who's had such total control over her body for so long.

Darcey Bussell22:40

Uh

Speaker 322:40

Yeah.

Darcey Bussell22:46

Tola

Presenter22:48

You know, you can't be a little bit pregnant. Once you've lit the touch paper, your body's got a mind of its own. Is it true? Because I did class until I gave birth and it was very odd. We have big mirrors in our studios, and just every week I come in and I go, oh, that's me. Oh, dear. Like that. And every time I try and get another leotard on my tummy, it was very odd. And you exercised very hard throughout that first pregnancy, didn't you? Well.

Darcey Bussell22:50

And one

Speaker 422:55

Is it certainly not a problem?

Darcey Bussell23:11

And you you

Presenter23:16

They well, the doctors always say don't change what you do.

Presenter23:20

And um I suppose they never realize actually what we do to our bodies. And I mean after three months I did stop dancing. You mean on stage? On stage. I stopped performing. But you were still in the studio. I was still in the studio doing class. But I knew I couldn't do back bends because you could feel the stretch between your ribs and and the stomach. And i your body s stops you from doing certain things. And I suppose when I decided that, you know, we really

Darcey Bussell23:29

On stage. I stopped performing.

Darcey Bussell23:31

I was still in the studio doing

Presenter23:47

would love to have a child. I had to also make my mind up that I wasn't going to dance again,'cause I might have not been able to dance again. You never know, do you? It was that big a decision. Oh yeah, very much, very much.

Presenter24:00

But it did get even more difficult, as we shall hear. But let's pause and have record number six. This is Wise Men by James Blunt. And the nice thing about him is he just comes across incredibly passionate about what he does. In his voice, it's this wonderful, like, I really mean every word I say. And it's great. I love listening to him. And this is, I think, a lovely song.

Speaker 424:24

In your talent show with you benikty little in your fancy dress who just judge each other and try to impress but they couldn't escape from you, couldn't be free of you And now they know there's no way out

Speaker 424:39

Really sorry now for what they've done They were three wise men just trying to have some fun

Speaker 424:46

Look who's alone now, it's not me, it's not me.

Speaker 424:52

Those two.

Presenter24:53

James Blunt and Wise Men. So, um Darcy, you were 32 weeks pregnant with your first child, Phoebe as it turned out, in 2001. You'd done class in the morning and that evening you were rushed to hospital. What went wrong? I didn't know, because I didn't know anything about preeclampsia and it was very strange, because I just I had pains in my back.

Presenter25:16

It's amazing actually, because my doctor was brilliant because you can die of this. And I was just. But it clamps you, you can. I had no idea.

Darcey Bussell25:20

Pete.

Presenter25:22

We went in, they said, Okay, I spent one night in hospital and I didn't know I was really ill, I just thought, Oh, it's bad back. Maybe this is what most pregnant women get and um my blood pressure was really high and

Presenter25:39

I stayed a night in hospital, they just monitored me, and the next day I was back in hospital again and I was.

Darcey Bussell25:45

Imagine later

Presenter25:47

No, I never went into labor. It was just a big shock and they just said, You're not going to recover if we don't get the baby out now, because they like to keep the baby in as long as possible, obviously,'cause you were only thirty-two weeks and I was like, I was only thirty-two weeks. But they say, you know, when you reach thirty weeks, you're safer, obviously. It was just very scary. The placenta has a chemical reaction or something between you both, and you either the baby starts failing or you start failing. And with me, it was I started failing. My liver and kidneys all started to pack up, and that's why I was getting such back pain with all in my kidneys and

Speaker 425:56

Yeah.

Darcey Bussell25:57

You would only say

Darcey Bussell25:58

That So, yeah.

Darcey Bussell26:17

Uh

Presenter26:19

So it was a really life-threatening. Very, very. And it's you know, I think I was.

Darcey Bussell26:21

Very annoying

Presenter26:25

Iller than I didn't realize, because I didn't realize all the consequences. Nothing actually went in until.

Presenter26:30

probably months after we'd had her, did I actually realise, oh wow, we were. Do you think it was as a result of just overdoing it, the actual? I don't know. I mean, they say it's actually hereditary.

Darcey Bussell26:34

B

Speaker 426:34

Uh

Darcey Bussell26:34

Do you

Speaker 426:34

Uh

Darcey Bussell26:34

Ding

Darcey Bussell26:37

I don't know.

Presenter26:41

You know, so it's not really what you do.

Presenter26:45

I definitely think I was doing too much'cause I had no idea and you know people say, Oh, rest and you go, Yeah, yeah, I'll rest And I was resting compared to what I normally do.

Presenter26:53

Luckily, everything went smoothly. Second pregnancy and when I had Zoe, I was much more sensible and stopped doing class maybe three weeks before I had her. You know, no, I can't have any more. No, he did say I've been lucky. And I think just what I'd gone through the first time, he said the second time.

Speaker 427:03

And will you have more?

Darcey Bussell27:05

Uh

Presenter27:14

I was lucky again.

Presenter27:15

Terrible experience though that first time. I mean Angus must have thought he got a lot of fun. He thought both of us, yeah. Because having a baby in incubator, you know, tiny little thing. I mean, luckily she was a very good weight for a premature baby. And I had fluid on my heart and my lungs. And I was actually only in hospital for eight days. But she was in hospital for six weeks before she was allowed out. So your recovery you do put down to your physical fitness? Yes, very much. He said my heart was very strong. If I'd been any weaker as a human being, then no, I might have not survived. Very lucky I'm here. Terrifying experience. Record number seven. Record number seven, yes. This is Foray's Requiem, and it's just a piece from a ballet that we've been performing recently. And I did this when I was very first in the company, and it's a beautiful piece of music. And I think to dance to a piece where you have vocals, it is magical.

Speaker 427:47

The

Darcey Bussell27:47

Uh

Speaker 427:51

Uh

Speaker 327:51

Okay.

Speaker 427:51

Uh

Speaker 428:33

There was a burn.

Speaker 429:08

Am I safe for Lord?

Presenter29:13

Part of the Libera May from Foray's Requiem performed by the BBC Philharmonic with the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus conducted by Jan Pascal Tortelier. So um if there's a passion that matches dance in your life, Darcy, it's motherhood really, isn't it? Very much isn't. That's the driving force. I'm very near at it, but no, it's it's fabulous, and I love it.

Darcey Bussell29:29

That's the driving force.

Darcey Bussell29:33

Ruin of it.

Presenter29:34

How long will you go on? You're retiring as Principal Ballerina. You're going to be a guest artist.

Presenter29:41

How long after that before you retire totally? I don't know. I don't know. I it's all a little bit of a test for me at the moment. I'm just going to see if it works or not. Um but I I only really want to do it if I really love it as well, you know. I don't want to do it because it's just a job, you know. Well, quite. And I think that that's the point, isn't it? Whether you'll

Presenter30:00

Where you will miss being top dog, as it were.

Presenter30:04

I mean, it is lovely having that unity in a company because I've been there for so long and

Presenter30:11

The the other members of the company are brilliant and they all support you. I mean, I'm not going to lose my dressing room. I'm still going to be based there. But I'm just not going to be around as much. But you could have a second career as a as a flamenco dancer or a salsa dancer. I gather you really love all of that. I would love to experiment in a couple of other

Darcey Bussell30:25

I really love it.

Presenter30:29

Styles of dance. I just want to do those things I've never been able to do. And, you know, flamenco dancing was something you can't do when you're on team palette because you're all that stamping. It's so bad for your joints. There's a little bit of a wild side waiting to come out, but essentially, what you yearn for is the conventional life, isn't it? A little bit, yeah. I think.

Presenter30:51

I feel everything is non-stop. You don't stop being a mum anyway, but I do everything else on top of that. And it's like this kind of wheel, and you never can kind of jump off it. Yeah, a little bit of normality would be kind of entertaining. It's all been a bit relentless, really, is what you're saying to me. I mean, you get tired. Please, can it stop now? Yeah, a little slowdown. I mean, we move home constantly because I love moving home and doing up houses as well. So we're going to slow down on that. So you're going to move towards middle age and an oasis of calm, isn't it? That would be nice with a view. With a view. A view across country or sea or something. What's this? The last song, ah, this is Virtual Insanity by Jimar McCuai. I never say that perfectly, but I've always loved this guy. I think he's incredibly theatrical himself. And I think he's a bit of a choreographer. One day I hope to bring him to the ballet maybe and come and see some works we do because I think he should be on the stage as well.

Darcey Bussell31:07

Yeah.

Darcey Bussell31:21

So you can do it.

Darcey Bussell31:26

That

Darcey Bussell31:31

What's this?

Speaker 431:54

You're just made up virtue and sanity.

Speaker 432:00

See

Speaker 432:07

I can't feel technique

Speaker 432:09

Oh my god.

Speaker 432:11

Uh

Presenter32:12

Oh yeah.

Presenter32:23

Jamiriquai and Virtual Insanity. Now, Darcy, if you could only take one of those eight records, which one would you take? That's very difficult'cause I'm kind of two different people, I think,'cause I love the classical. But I think feel good factor is virtual insanity.

Presenter32:41

Jim Riquai comes to the island. Okay. And we give you a book. We give you the Bible and we give you the complete works of Shakespeare. And what book of your own choice would you take?

Darcey Bussell32:49

Good

Speaker 432:49

Uh

Presenter32:50

Well I suppose biographies you get bored of very quickly, but Audrey Hepburn I suppose, only'cause she's always been my idol. So she'd keep me going, I think. And she wanted to be a dancer as well, so I relate to her really well.

Darcey Bussell33:03

Yeah.

Presenter33:05

and luxury.

Presenter33:06

One one thing that's of no practical use. It can't help you escape or anything. Just something that you would love to have with you. An eyelash curler?

Presenter33:17

I don't know. I've really got attached to my eyelash curler. Well, then have an eyelash curl. I have to curl my eyelashes every morning.

Presenter33:26

Darcy Bustle, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island is. It's a pleasure. Thank you very much.

Darcey Bussell33:38

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk/slash radio four.