A Suffolk star of the Royal Ballet is to partner prima ballerina Darcey Bussell in her farewell performance at Covent Garden - part of which is being shown live on television on Friday.

A Suffolk star of the Royal Ballet is to partner prima ballerina Darcey Bussell in her farewell performance at Covent Garden - part of which is being shown live on television on Friday. Lynne Mortimer talks to Gary Avis.

Ipswich-born ballet dancer Gary Avis is playing the leading male role in Mahler's Song of the Earth with Darcey Bussell and the Cuban star Carlos Acosta.

And he will take his curtain call with Bussell on the night she gives her farewell performance with the Royal Ballet.

Choreographed by Kenneth Macmillan, Song of the Earth is a moving and powerful ballet and one of the most demanding in the repertoire, requiring enormous stamina, strength and musicality of its principals. It has been chosen by Bussell as the work with which she wishes to bring her Royal Ballet career to a close.

Bussell's Friday swansong is likely to be an emotional occasion at the opera house. Over the years, the vast stage has seen some of her most acclaimed performances and though Avis, principal character artist with the Royal Ballet, has danced with her on many occasions none are likely to be more memorable than this.

Now 37, Avis says he has been overwhelmed by the response of the Covent Garden ballet-goers. Greeted with a roar of approval at the first performance on Saturday (2 June), Gary says Song of the Earth has been a highlight of his own remarkable career which has taken him from the corps of the Co-op Juniors to centre stage at Covent Garden.

He says dancing with Bussell will be one of the defining moments of his Royal Ballet career: "It is always great to dance with Darcey Bussell and a special honour to partner her at this farewell performance. It's incredible.

"Song of the Earth is an incredibly demanding piece and the timing is split second. It has been exhausting but hugely rewarding at the same time. It is really a beautiful ballet. The great thing about working with Darcey is that we have a very similar mindset - we are both very focused and perfectionists but don't take ourselves too seriously and laugh a lot along the way.

"Many friends and family have come to see shows at the Opera House over the years, but I do hope everyone who knows me in Ipswich will be able to watch the live performance on TV this Friday. I like to think that there will be lots of people I know in the viewing audience."

One person who will definitely be watching on Friday - from a seat at the Royal Opera House - is Avis's Ipswich dance teacher, Linda Shipton. He says: “Linda was an inspirational teacher and continues to nurture talented young dancers - despite the awful difficulties she has encountered trying to find suitable new premised for her dance studios in Ipswich. I am just one of many of Linda's pupils who have gone on to successful careers in dance and I am thrilled she will be there on Friday.”

There are currently three former Linda Shipton pupils in the Royal Ballet Company, Avis, Helen Crawford and Liam Scarlett.

Paying tribute to Bussell, Avis says: "Darcey Bussell is one of the best known ballerinas in the world and a great ambassador for British ballet. Young dancers look at her and want to be like her which is bodes well for the future.

"It's all been so full on in the past few days with Song. I've now got to get my head round the fact I'm off performing Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake on a Royal Ballet tour of South and North America.

"I'm flying out on Sunday, so a day of washing and packing on Saturday should bring me down to earth a bit."

Darcey Bussell, currently the only British-born principal ballerina in the Royal Ballet, is stepping down following a 20-year career with the company. In celebration of her talent, artistry and popularity, BBC2 is broadcasting Darcey Bussell's Farewell: Live - a special 90-minute programme from the Royal Opera House on Friday.

It features exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with friends and colleagues including Gary Avis and Director of the Royal Ballet Monica Mason, performance highlights spanning her remarkable career, culminating in Darcey's final performance with The Royal Ballet in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth.

Martha Kearney is joined by Jonathan Cope, Bussell's dance partner for many years, to present live coverage from the Royal Opera House.

Documentary footage will cover Darcey Bussell's career as Britain's prima ballerina and include highlights from career.

This glittering finale to Bussell's career also marks the end of the Royal Ballet's season. Gary Avis and the company are then off on a transatlantic tour before taking a well-earned break.

Despite finding stardom with one of the world's leading ballet companies, Gary Avis has never lost sight of his early dancing years in Ipswich with the Co-op Juniors. He regularly choreographs for the famous dance troupe and comes home to the area whenever he can, given the gruelling schedule of the ballet season.

Avis joined The Royal Ballet in 1989 and was promoted to Soloist in 1995. In 1999 he left to co-found K Ballet, Japan and then in 2002 he joined English National Ballet as a First Soloist.

He rejoined The Royal Ballet in 2004 and was promoted to Principal Character Artist, 2005. His repertory includes Anna's husband and Tsar (Anastasia), Orion, Monsieur G.M. and Gaoler (Manon), Von Rothbart (Swan Lake), Tybalt and Paris (Romeo and Juliet), Hilarion (Giselle) , Drosselmeyer (The Nutcracker), French Prince and King Florestan (Sleeping Beauty), Dr Coppélius (Coppelia) , King of the South (Prince of the Pagodas), Madge (La Sylphide), He (My Brother, my Sisters),and Kostcheï (The Firebird).

He has created roles for MacMillan, Bruce, Page, Wheeldon, Tuckett, Hampson and Cooper.

BBC2 is broadcasting Darcey Bussell's Farewell: Live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on Friday, 8 June at 9pm.

Extracts from this week's reviews of Song of the Earth:

The Guardian: "One vertiginous lift, where Bussell swings her long body upwards into a quivering arc, fearlessly balanced on the shoulders of her partner (Gary Avis), her legs poised and sharp as a swallow's tail, is a moment of simple physical daring and simple sculptural beauty...

"Throughout her performance... Bussell danced flawlessly, as deep inside the choreography and the music as I've ever seen her. But almost as impressive were the rest of the cast - Carlos Acosta bringing a charismatic brutal tenderness to the role of Death - Gary Avis solid but vulnerable as the Lover..."

The Times (five stars): "So ravishing is her (Bussell's) performance, so voluptuous her long limbs, that the idea of retirement beggars belief.

"Her rapture seemed to inspire the entire Royal Ballet cast, including Gary Avis as the Man she loses to death. All were outstanding on Saturday night. The final fervent image of Acosta, Avis and Bussell stepping slowly forward into the unknown couldn't have been more apt or more poignant, for while a much-loved artist heads for a new life, Covent Garden loses its last British-born ballerina."

Telegraph: "As the man, Gary Avis found new reserves of grave power, while Carlos Acosta soared and flew as the Messenger of Death, without ever quite blending in to the group.

"What Bussell brought was a characteristic justness of line, a perfectly placed simplicity of movement, an ability to make everything look both beautiful and good."