Darcey Bussell's farewell

Tonight's performance will see Bussell take the lead for the last time in Song of the Earth by the choregrapher Kenneth MacMillan, who first made her a star. Watching the performance last Saturday night, the Guardian's dance critic Judith Mackrell wrote earlier this week, 'it felt as though she could not have chosen a more poignant vehicle with which to take her bow on the ballet stage.' Photograph: PR

Bussell and Cuban star Carlos Acosta in another piece by MacMillan, Requiem, here as part of the Royal Ballet's Triple Bill at the Royal Albert Hall in 2004. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Bussell exhibiting both energy and flair with Jonathan Cope in Tryst, part of her final performance at Sadler's Wells, which happened two weeks ago. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Bussell dances with Igor Zelensky in Cocteau's Le Jeune Homme Et La Mort at Sadler's Wells late last year. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Bussell took on the Sugar Plum Fairy in her years at the Royal Ballet numerous times; here she is at the Royal Albert Hall in 2001. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Darcey Bussell dancing with Edward Watson in the Royal Ballet's homage to Stravinsky's Violin Concerto. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Two greats from different generations meet: Bussell with Dame Beryl Grey – the first westerner to dance with the Bolshoi back in 1957 – at the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards last year. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty

Final curtain ... Bussell takes leave of the stage for the final time at the end of the Sadler's Wells farewell performance. Photograph: Tristram Kenton