In the quiet atmosphere of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is naturally upright, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, ballet dancers can seem as powerful deities, yet often offstage they are petite. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his demand for princely characters and partnering. Possessing delicate traits and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Rise to the Top
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered minimal ridicule for his early passion in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the company and was advanced annually, attaining the highest position of lead dancer in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial dramatic roles, particularly the emotional angst found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His next featured role is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a performer's craft. He will guide the audience through a role, showing his cognitive process during execution. Yet in lighter ballets, the test is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he states.
The Mental Struggle and After the Show Emotions
What about following a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get lost in the role, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. Following Mayerling I'm always thinking: God, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a choreographer once remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I'm quite active in general, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for positive change."
Formative Drivers and Creative Influences
His determination originated in youthful setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" This became fuel to prove he could succeed. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he recalls.
The next challenge is creating his own dance works. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Breaking the conventions is compelling, but just pretending that they’re not a thing any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He aims his work to be loaded with substance, drawing inspiration from literature, music, and art.
Close-Up Performance and Personal Partnership
He also favors presenting dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past experience. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has created duets with his girlfriend, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is evident. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple are not usually paired on stage at their main theater, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite supporter."
On Social Media and Physical Perception
On social media, followers can see clips from his projects and photos that showcase a athletic physique. Does he mind that the response can be a bit objectifying? Not particularly. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he states. He relates it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be interpreted on multiple levels.
Ball describes his early self as "desperate for success." Did it lived up to his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a different thing to the aspirations you made as a child," he reflects. He probably has another decade of dancing ahead. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
