Quotes from Darcey Bussell

When I started, there was a very strong image of what the ballerina was supposed to be in her tights and her costume, and then I started doing photo shoots in bomber boots, and it wasn't seen as the done thing.

One thing I've learned from 'Strictly' is timing and the craft of the talk.

I hate exercise when it's a regime, but I love a bit of dance, just moving the whole body.

You tend to regret the things you haven't done.

I was incredibly supple and did gymnastics as well. So half of my injuries are because I am over-supple and the joints could always go that little bit further. But I was happy to push, and I have no regrets. That is important to say.

I'm not a big cook at all, but anything easy and quick, like pasta, I'm up to. My husband cooks for me because he finds cooking relaxing.

My husband is Australian, and my family is scattered around the U.K. and France mostly, but we try to get a big group together for the holidays.

There are always younger and better dancers fighting to get your place. You get worn down by the fight to try to stay at the top.

Over the years, I've had two ankle operations, torn my hamstring, had my hip resurfaced, and snapped the anterior cruciate ligament in my knee.

I've achieved everything I've wanted to achieve, so I'm not scared of failure. I never gave up, however bad the injuries got.

I've got that personality where I've always been determined. As a dancer, I was constantly improving and perfecting. I guess it's innate.

I know, for me, dance did inspire me. Not just in how I feel but that confidence of being able to hold myself and come into a room and just feel comfortable with my body and how I stand and how you present yourself and just how you wear clothes, even.

The Royal Academy of Dance is an institution that trains to a very high standard.

When I was at the Royal Ballet School, I remember receiving my first eyeshadow palette from Marks & Spencer as a gift. It sparked my interest in beauty, which peaked when I became more involved in theatre and got to experience so many stunning image transformations to suit different productions.

I'm a grazer by nature - fruit, nuts - but I try to discipline myself and sit down for regular meals when the girls are around, as I want to instil good habits in them.

The jogging machine makes me go insane with boredom.

I wanted to inspire every little girl who wants to be a dancer to fire their imagination about the joys of being on the stage.

My mum sent me to ballet from the age of five, not because I was that into it but because I had really knock knees.

In the dance world, it has to be in your genetic make-up - your body has to suit the training.

Classical ballet is very extreme. You're doing it six days a week, and it's a kind of obsession of perfecting a move. So every muscle in your body has been stretched and tightened, stretched and tightened.

I danced so intensely, I learned the hard way that sometimes you can push your body too far.

Ever since I've given up dancing, every physiotherapist or Pilates teacher has said you have to keep moving. If I don't, I'll have a hundred times more injuries because you get weak areas on your body.

I didn't worry too much about staying in shape once I'd stopped dancing. You get to the point where you just burn out and have to give your body a chance to heal.

I never imagined I'd be a presenter on television, but I'm happy to put myself out of my comfort zone.