Dancers in the British Ballet Charity Gala at the Royal Albert Hall. Image by Isabella Sheherazade Sanai
On Thursday 3 June, eight leading British ballet companies shared the stage at the Royal Albert Hall to raise funds for their art and nominated community dance companies. Former principal of The Royal Ballet and Strictly Come Dancing judge Darcey Bussell presented the historic event. Here, she speaks to Candice Tucker about bringing ballet to a larger audience, her most memorable performances and how dance can benefit mental health 
Darcey Bussell
1. What was the inspiration behind the British Ballet Charity Gala"
The need and the larger voice, I suppose: the strength in numbers. When you?re from the performing world, you realise very quickly that it will be the first thing that suffers in any financial crisis, especially in a pandemic like this. So, the need to get everybody together to celebrate British dance was really important. Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine
The performance was live at the Royal Albert Hall, but as we weren’t able to fill the seats, we knew that we needed a much bigger audience to raise needed funds. We also wanted everybody to have the opportunity to see something like this so it was fabulous that we got the royalty rights and permission by all eight companies to have it aired online.
2. Is there a clear divide in how major ballet companies differentiate their style of dance"
There’s a general language to dan...