Within the quiet ambiance of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is effortlessly upright, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, ballet dancers can appear like powerful deities, yet frequently in person they are petite. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is part of his demand for princely characters and pas de deux work. Possessing delicate traits and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is experiencing the peak of a career that has advanced smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little ridicule for his early passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated directly into the troupe and was advanced annually, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has loved tackling meaty dramatic roles, particularly the psychological angst found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
Ball's upcoming featured role is in a talk, in an "Evening With" event designed to offer behind-the-scenes insights into a performer's craft. He will guide the audience through a part, demonstrating his cognitive process during performance. Yet in more comedic works, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Struggle and After the Show Feelings
What about following a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get lost in the role, quite often I do feel embarrassed afterwards. After an intense role I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is thoughtful, mild-mannered, and quick to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker previously remarked on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite active in general, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an instigator for good change."
Early Drivers and Creative Inspirations
His tenacity stemmed from youthful setbacks. 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 "pivotal" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
An upcoming challenge is creating his own dance works. In his view, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the conventions is interesting, but just acting that they’re not a thing any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He wants his work to be loaded with substance, drawing ideas from books, compositions, and art.
Intimate Performance and Personal Partnership
He also is interested in presenting dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous show. "You’re so close to the audience. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created pieces with his girlfriend, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t usually matched on stage at their home company, which might be beneficial. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s biggest supporter."
On Social Media and Bodily Image
On social media, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that highlight 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 precious about it," he states. He compares it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be interpreted on multiple levels.
Ball characterizes his early self as "desperate for success." Has it lived up to his hopes? "I am conscious of how life is a separate thing to the aspirations you made as a child," he reflects. He probably has another ten years of dancing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
