| GISELLE | Jul 95 |
| "Darcey Bussell ... danced with an easy fluency and technical strength that were a joy to watch; but even more importantly she is finding an expressive range of emotion that caught us up in the drama too..." | Nicholas Dromgoole
Sunday Telegraph
22 Jul 95 |
| "It is one of the signs of an exceptional ballerina to be able to re-make a role in her own image. Darcey Bussell is, unquestionably, one of the most remarkable talents to have emerged in the Royal Ballet for 20 years..." | Clement Crisp
Financial Times
28 Jul 95 |
| LA BAYADERE | Mar & Apr 97 |
| "Darcey Bussell as ... the Princess Gamzatti was almost equally rave-worthy. Bussell is Kiri te Kanawa to Guillem's Callas, her dancing sumptuous and clean, her character snobby rather than malicious, obviously deep in love with Solor. The challenges between her and Guillem showed the two women at the end of their emotional tether as well as breathtaking ballerinaship" | Ismene Brown
The Daily Telegraph
24 Mar 97 |
| "Bussell's Nikiya is demure and very pretty indeed [and] her dancing was lovely. No-one describes wider arcs of dance than Bussell does, and the sensuousness of her musical phrasing - and the way she played with time, outlining familiar movements in unfamiliar ways - made the interpretation uniquely her own ... She came alive with the sheer physical excitement of letting go into the choreography" | Debra Craine
The Times
3 Apr 97 |
| "Darcey Bussell [as] Nikiya was admirable. The sweetness of Bussell's character, the ease of her very considerable technique, are well suited to the bayadere. She is discovering the secret of expansive and grandly simple gesture and dance - emotion made legible thought large shapes of movement - and in the Shades scene much of her dancing was luminous, lovely" | Clement Crisp
Financial Times
14 Apr 97 |
| MANON | Jul & Nov 98 |
| "Bussell plays this first scene with a delicious naivete ... Manon's character is alive, utterly beguiling, and we see the perfect victim for coming events" | Clement Crisp
Financial Times
28 Jul 98 |
| "Never before could a Belfast audience have witnessed a performance as compelling as Darcey Bussell's in the title role. Every ounce of emotion - and this is a show dripping with it - was extracted ... MacMillan's work is modern, yet rooted in tradition. Bussell's approach to dance follows this path. She always dances beautifully, but her reference point is the drama, not a clinical display of technical mastery" | Tom Collins
Irish News
16 Nov 98 |
| "Darcey Bussell's performance last night was absolute perfection. Here was a perfect fusion of technique and inspired characterisation, poetry in motion which will be talked about for a long time by all who saw it. Her use of the arms. for example, was absolutely delightful and her dancing throughout has a fascination that was irresistible and even at the end of the ballet when she is allegedly dying her dancing would have wrung tears from a stone" | Rathcol
Belfast Telegraph
16 Nov 98 |
| "Darcey Bussell's Manon was mesmeric. Sexy, sensual, childlike and provocative, she seduces the audience and takes them on an emotional rollercoaster ride. Not only is she remarkable for her technical brilliance, but great dancers need to be great actors too, and she has the ability to move an audience to tears. This audience was no exception" | Victoria Maguire
The Newsletter
14 Nov 98 |
| "Darcey Bussell lived up to her star billing as one of the finest ballerina's the world has produced with a performance that was utterly compelling for its delicacy and beauty ... showing her to be a dancer with a rare ability to convey the drama of a work whilst losing nothing of her flawless technique ... It was Bussell who held the rapt attention of the audience throughout, displaying a waif-like charm that was almost the personification of a summer breeze" | Belfast paper
19 Nov 98 |
