Within the quiet ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally straight-backed, his limbs defined beneath a plain tee. On stage, ballet dancers can appear like powerful gods, yet often in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for heroic characters and pas de deux work. Possessing delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Rise to the Pinnacle
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has progressed smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced little ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the company and was advanced annually, reaching the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling substantial dramatic roles, particularly the emotional angst found in Kenneth MacMillan's works.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His next featured appearance is as himself, in an "Evening With" event designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a performer's craft. He will guide the audience through a part, showing his cognitive workflow while execution. Yet in more comedic works, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the most demanding technically," he states.
The Mental Game and After the Show Feelings
How does he feel after a show, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the role, quite often I do feel self-conscious afterwards. Following Mayerling I'm always thinking: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, mild-mannered, and prone to laugh at himself. But a choreographer previously remarked on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I'm quite energetic in general, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for good change."
Formative Motivations and Creative Inspirations
His tenacity originated in early setbacks. Not doing well in contests at school made him "vengeful!" This became motivation to prove he could succeed. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.
An upcoming challenge is creating his own choreography. For Ball, "organic movement has value." "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 literature, compositions, and painting.
Close-Up Performance and Personal Dynamic
He also favors presenting dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so close to the audience. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made pieces with his partner, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of faith between them is evident. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t typically matched on stage at their main theater, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he notes. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s biggest supporter."
On Social Media and Bodily Perception
On Instagram, fans can see videos from his projects and images that showcase a athletic form. Does he care that the engagement can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not really. "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—an object that can be interpreted on multiple levels.
Ball characterizes his younger self as "eager for success." Has it lived up to his expectations? "I am conscious of how life is a separate thing to the dreams you had as a young person," he muses. He likely has about decade of dancing left. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
