Darcey Bussell

Darcey married Australian businessman Angus Forbes in 1997. She has two daughters: Phoebe Olivia and Zoe Sophia.

Darcey currently lives in London with her family.

Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell was born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle, on April 27, 1969, in London, England, to John Crittle and Andrea Williams.

Her father was an Australian businessman, and her mother was a housewife. However, her parents divorced when Darcey was 3 years old, and following this, her mother married an Australian dentist, Philip Bussell.

Darcey was adopted by her stepfather and spent most of her time in Australia with her family. She finally returned to London to attend ‘Fox Primary School.’

Darcey began her career as a dancer at the ‘Charlotte School,’ a dance and musical theater in London. When she was 13, she joined the ‘Royal Ballet Lower School’ at White Lodge, Richmond Park.

She started progressing at the ‘Royal Ballet,’ which is one of the best international dance schools. She graduated to the ‘Royal Ballet Upper School’ at the age of 16. She also performed at the ‘Royal Opera House.’

In 1987, she was upgraded to ‘Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet,’ where she started participating in plays and productions. It was around this time when late Kenneth MacMillan noticed her grace and skills and decided to cast her as the principal dancer in his ballet, ‘Concerto,’ in 1986. In 1988, Kenneth got her another principal role in the ballet ‘The Prince of the Pagodas.’ She performed to Benjamin Britten’s music.

After her stint with Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet, she moved on to the ‘Royal Ballet’ in 1988. A year later, she became the principal dancer at the ‘Royal Ballet.’ Darcey was only 20 years old when she achieved the feat. She never looked back after that.

She appeared as ‘Princess Aurora’ in ‘The Sleeping Beauty,’ ‘Odette/Odile’ in ‘Swan Lake,’ and the ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’ in ‘The Nutcracker.’ She also played the titular roles in ‘Giselle’ and ‘Raymonda Act III.’

She performed in another MacMillan ballet named ‘Masha in Winter Dreams’ in 1991. The final “pas de deux” of ‘Winter Dreams,’ however, had been performed at the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations at the ‘London Palladium,’ a year earlier.

After the death of MacMillan, Darcey continued playing various roles in his ballets, such as title roles in ‘L'histoire de Manon’ and ‘Romeo & Juliet.’ Her other noteworthy performances were as ‘Mitzi Casper’ in ‘Mayerling,’ and as ‘Mathilde Kschessinska’ in ‘Anastasia.’

She also made various guest appearances with the ‘New York City Ballet,’ the ‘Balletto Della Scala,’ the ‘Kirov Ballet,’ the ‘Paris Opera Ballet,’ the ‘Hamburg Ballet,’ and the ‘Australian Ballet.’ She had principal roles in ‘Agon,’ ‘Symphony in C,’ ‘Apollo,’ and ‘Prodigal Son.’