Former Principal of The Royal Ballet and one of the most famous and celebrated British ballerinas— will be joining us as a Guest Adjudicator and Ambassador on Saturday 11th July at the Llangollen Eisteddfod.
Biography
Principal ballerina for almost 20 years at The Royal Ballet, Darcey performed over 80 roles, with 17 created specifically for her, including Masha in Winter Dreams and Princess Rose in The Prince of the Pagodas. She danced all the major classical roles — from Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and Odette/Odile in Swan Lake to lead roles in Giselle, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, and Manon — and appeared as a guest artist with companies worldwide including NYCB, La Scala, the Kirov Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, National Ballet of Tokyo and the Australian Ballet. Darcey retired from the Company in June 2007 with a performance of MacMillan’s Song of the Earth, broadcast live on BBC2. Darcey came out of retirement to perform the ‘Spirit of the flame’ at the 2012 LondonOlympics closing ceremony, leading a troupe of 200 dancers in a spectacular performance.
Today Dame Darcey coaches Principal dancers at The Royal Ballet, presents its live cinema relays, has created numerous documentaries and books including Darcey Bussell: A Life in Pictures, Evolved and the Magic Ballerina series, and was a judge on Strictly Come Dancing for seven years. She is President of the Royal Academy of Dance, Chair of Theatre Royal Plymouth, International Patron of the Sydney Dance Company, and patron of numerous charities.
Her honours include Prix de Lausanne medal, John F. Kennedy Centre Gold Medal recipient, Carl Alan Award, honorary doctorates from Oxford University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and she is Artiste Laureate at the Royal Ballet School. A full-length portrait of her hangs in The National Portrait Gallery, London. At the 2006 Chelsea Flower Show, a new crimson rose called ‘Darcey Bussell’ was unveiled, and she is the “Godmother” of MS Azura, a P&O cruise liner.
We are absolutely thrilled to welcome her extraordinary expertise, global influence, and passion for dance to inspire and celebrate performers on our iconic stage this July.
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