Within the quiet ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is naturally straight-backed, his arms defined beneath a plain white T-shirt. During performances, ballet dancers can seem like powerful deities, yet often in person they are petite. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for heroic characters and pas de deux work. With delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Top
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has progressed smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced little teasing for his early interest in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the company and was promoted annually, attaining the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial characters, especially the psychological 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 role is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" event aiming to offer intimate insights into a performer's craft. He will walk the audience through a part, showing his mental workflow during performance. Yet in more comedic works, the test is significant. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he states.
The Mental Game and After the Show Emotions
How does he feel following a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always like: Wow, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a choreographer once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "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 catalyst for good change."
Early Motivations and Creative Influences
His tenacity originated in youthful experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" 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 fanatical," he remembers.
An upcoming challenge is creating his own dance works. For Ball, "organic movement has value." "Breaking the rules 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 meaning, drawing inspiration from literature, music, and art.
Close-Up Performance and Personal Partnership
He also favors presenting dance in more intimate 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 person, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has made pieces with his girlfriend, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of faith between them is evident. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They are not typically paired on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps beneficial. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "But I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."
Regarding Instagram and Physical Image
On social media, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that showcase a sculpted physique. Does he mind that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? 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 seen on multiple ways.
Ball characterizes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it met his expectations? "I am conscious of how life is a different thing to the aspirations you made as a young person," he reflects. He likely has another decade of performing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
