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 effortlessly upright, his limbs muscular beneath a plain white T-shirt. On stage, dancers can seem like mighty gods, yet frequently in person they are petite. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for princely characters and pas de deux work. With fine traits and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Pinnacle
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has progressed smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered minimal teasing for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated directly into the troupe and was promoted each year, attaining the highest position of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling meaty characters, particularly the emotional turmoil found in Kenneth MacMillan's ballets.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
Ball's upcoming featured role is in a talk, in an "Evening With" event aiming to offer intimate insights into a performer's craft. He will guide the audience through a role, showing his cognitive process during performance. Yet in lighter ballets, the test is significant. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Game and After the Show Emotions
What about after a show, when he has succeeded? "It feels pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. Following an intense role I'm always like: Wow, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I am very active in general, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for good change."
Formative Drivers and Creative Influences
His tenacity stemmed from youthful experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "driven!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
The next challenge is creating his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the conventions is interesting, but just pretending that they’re not a reality 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 books, compositions, and art.
Intimate Dance and Personal Dynamic
He additionally favors staging dance in smaller venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past show. "You’re so close to the audience. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created duets with his girlfriend, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of faith between them is clear. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a daring lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." They are not usually matched on stage at their home company, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest supporter."
On Social Media and Bodily Image
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his dance films and photos that highlight a sculpted form. Does he mind that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not really. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he explains. He relates it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen 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 life is a different reality to the dreams you made as a young person," he muses. He likely has another ten years of dancing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
