Within the quiet ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally straight-backed, his limbs muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, dancers can appear as powerful gods, yet frequently in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose height is part of his demand for heroic characters and pas de deux work. Possessing delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Top
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he faced minimal ridicule for his early interest in ballet. Joining the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved straight into the company and was advanced annually, reaching the highest position of principal in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty characters, especially the psychological turmoil 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 in a talk, in an "In Conversation" series designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a dancer's art. He will guide the audience through a role, demonstrating his cognitive workflow during performance. Yet in lighter works, the test is significant. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he states.
The Mental Struggle and After the Show Feelings
What about after a performance, when he has succeeded? "It feels 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 later. Following an intense role I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a choreographer once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite active in general, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."
Early Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
His determination stemmed from early setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
An upcoming challenge is making his own dance works. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the rules is compelling, but just pretending that they’re not a reality any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He wants his work to be filled with substance, drawing inspiration from literature, compositions, and art.
Intimate Performance and Personal Dynamic
He also is interested in staging dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past show. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has made duets with his partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is evident. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a daring lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." They are not usually paired on stage at their main theater, which might be beneficial. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he notes. "But I feel like we’re each other’s favorite supporter."
On Social Media and Physical Perception
On Instagram, followers can see clips from his projects and photos that highlight a sculpted form. Does he care that the response 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 compares it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be interpreted on multiple ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it met his expectations? "I am conscious of how reality is a separate reality to the aspirations you made as a child," he muses. He probably has about ten years of dancing left. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
