Darcey Bussell Quotes

I leave for the show at least an hour ahead, and I do some vocal warm-ups, and that's pretty much it.

I warm up at home. I hit the stage, I'm ready, whether it's rehearsal or anything.

Usually I work at the merch table until one minute before I have to go on stage.

I love nothing better than to get all the nuts and bolts out of the way - show up on time, with lines learned, clear on what the director expects of me, with my buttons buttoned and my jewelry on correctly - and then I completely commit to play acting.

I find that putting my makeup on and playing with different looks is really relaxing for me before the show.

When preparing for a concert, I do lots of training. I work with a choreographer to create great moves and then I have to keep my voice strong with lessons.

I'm kind of a feel player. I'll stretch out before a show a bit and do some playing, but that's about it. I'm not one of these 10-hour-a-day playing guys.

Before every show, I eat half a rotisserie chicken.

Thirty minutes onstage for me is literally a full day's work. So I make sure I eat right and I make sure I keep my energy high.

I like to rehearse a lot. Before I hit the stage, I listen to the songs that I would perform and make sure I execute everything.

It's important for me not to peak before I hit the stage. In other words, I save all of my creative and physical energy for when I walk on stage. If I can get 45 minutes of just easy going, playing rhythm, songs, stuff like that, then that's what I do to make sure that I'm all stretched out and ready.

If I'm playing country, I gotta have my country hat and my cowboy boots. I gotta have a voice, and the third thing, I gotta have I guess a little music to keep me in the right mind, a little pre-show something to get ya going. Lots of AC/DC, or I'll sit on youtube and find all kinds of stuff before we take the stage to get pumped up.

But I'm not superstitious. I don't really eat dinner before I go on stage, because digesting a lot of food kind of shuts you down. And I try not to get involved in emotional conversations with anyone beforehand either, so I've got a clear head.

By the time I'm out of makeup, I'm ready to act.

I have to get up the fitness level, sing a lot, practice, get in the mood, and generally do lots of rehearsal. Get your body and mind ready.

Start three bars before something.

How you run the race - your planning, preparation, practice, and performance - counts for everything. Winning or losing is a by-product, and aftereffect, of that effort.

At the same time, preparation is important to playoff success.

I'm a very cerebral person and I like to do my homework and break it down. I like to feel like I did my due diligence. It's a confidence factor for me, as an actor.

I don't have a power nap when I have training. I take it so I am fresh again for the next session.

You have formal rehearsal, a lot of things you don't have in movies - which is, you have to formally rehearse. You have to know your back story, discuss it, and almost everybody onstage has to know each other's [story], so that when it comes time to actually do it, you can throw it all away. That's the way I like to - and I didn't realize until very recently - that's the way I like to prepare for movies.

Acting is a bit like being an athlete. You spend all your time getting ready to do something for two minutes. All the things that made my career in the movies happen took two or three minutes, which is the time that it takes for a 'take'. In that time, something happens. That's what people know you for, just like someone running the hundred metres.

The better the script is the more you can commit, but you can only really commit with full confidence when you know the material is as strong as your level of commitment to it and it frees you up.

I use singing as a warm-up before big scenes I have to do on set. It's also great to make people less nervous.

If I win and play well, then the ranking will take care of itself. Defending points is really not a problem. Just go out and play and not worry about it.