Within the quiet ambiance of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is naturally straight-backed, his arms defined beneath a plain tee. On stage, dancers can seem as mighty deities, yet often in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his demand for heroic roles and pas de deux work. With fine traits and intense eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
An Apparent Rise to the Top
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered minimal ridicule for his early passion in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the troupe and was advanced each year, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished tackling substantial 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 next featured appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's art. He will guide the crowd through a role, showing his mental workflow during performance. Even in lighter ballets, the challenge is significant. "A classic ballet is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Psychological Struggle and After the Show Feelings
How does he feel following a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the role, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. After an intense role I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker previously observed on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite energetic usually, but I do have a melancholy streak," he reveals. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for positive change."
Early Motivations and Creative Inspirations
His tenacity stemmed from youthful setbacks. Not doing well in contests at school made him "vengeful!" This became fuel to prove 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 endeavor is making his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the rules is interesting, but just pretending that they’re not a thing any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He aims his work to be filled with meaning, drawing inspiration from books, compositions, and painting.
Close-Up Dance and Private Partnership
He also is interested in presenting dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past experience. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
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 was like Dirty Dancing." The couple are not usually matched on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps 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 biggest cheerleader."
Regarding Instagram and Physical Perception
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his projects and images that showcase a sculpted physique. Does he care that the response can be a bit focused on appearance? Not particularly. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he explains. He compares it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be interpreted on multiple levels.
Ball characterizes his younger self as "eager for success." Did it met his hopes? "I feel very aware of how life is a separate thing to the aspirations you made as a young person," he muses. He probably has about decade of dancing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
