Darcey Bussell: 'When they announced I had been made Principal, I was in shock'
I was 19 years old when I joined The Royal Ballet as a soloist, in 1988. As a new member, you begin by learning the company repertoire – classics like Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère – but that year we were also rehearsing a new interpretation of Benjamin Britten’s score for The Prince of the Pagodas, by choreographer Kenneth MacMillan. He had cast me in the leading role, so I went from rehearsing that to Swan Lake to whatever else non-stop. It was an extraordinary year.
We wouldn’t usually get to work on a new ballet for long, but the premiere had been delayed because of Kenneth’s health and then we had nearly gone on strike, too, for equal pay with The Royal Opera company chorus. I remember I was rather desperate about it – it being right before the premiere – but, of course, I was going to stick with the company.
Prince was my first major piece and I was quite naive. Plus, I’d heard all these stories about Kenneth – this genius, as he was, and about how difficult it was to get him to react. He could be so silent. I think that’s why so many dancers did well with him, because they were striving so hard just to get a reaction.
It was Jonathan Cope [playing the Prince] who helped me learn. He’d been in the company for a few years and had done incredibly well with Kenneth, and he said, ‘Don’t make this harder; slow down a bit’ – I was doing everything I could to create the best for Kenneth, but I was never going to make it through a threehour ballet like that.
I played Rose, who is her emperor father ’s favourite daughter and who must undergo a rite of passage. I remember being incredibly disappointed with the costume. You always get it really late in the game, which is such a disadvantage for a dancer, because it needs to feel part of, and move with, your body.
It had this boned bodice with a floaty skirt. The first version they made, the bodice was too short and became very revealing if I was lifted into a backbend. As for the blindfold I had to wear for the dance with the salamander Prince, we tried at least four different fabrics before we settled on net, but even then, when the lights shone on it, it became difficult for me to see. I think it made my performance quite realistic, though – I really did have to trust Jonathan in the pas de deux.
I was very lucky that, when I retired 13 years ago, The Royal Ballet gave the costume to me.
That’s very unusual, because they cost a lot and get recycled, so the costume you’ll see at the V&A will be the one I wore.
Throughout, I could tell that Kenneth was very excited about this piece. It was something that he’d been wanting to do for years and, having finally got permission [from the Britten foundation, who would not allow the score to be cut], he was revelling in the amount of work ahead. It didn’t seem that daunting to him, even though for me and Jonathan it most certainly was.
I was nervous on the first night, but when you’re focusing on retaining all of that choreography, you do become very blinkered and that helps. Plus, I was still only 20 and had the confidence of youth – no past behind me to make me worry about things going wrong.
I can’t imagine how stressful that first performance must have been for Kenneth. Afterwards, I could tell he was really happy, because I saw him smiling – he didn’t smile that often, you see, so I knew it meant a lot.
When they announced that night, on stage, that I had been made Principal, I was in shock. It’s everything you dream of as a young dancer, so I didn’t really believe it was happening. I was numb from the amount of adrenaline running through my system. I’ll never forget it.
On Point: Royal Academy of Dance at 100 opens at the V&A on 2 December until 19 September 2021. Find out more at royalacademyofdance.org/onpoint. Dame Darcey Bussell is President of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD).
