Within the quiet ambiance of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is naturally straight-backed, his limbs defined beneath a simple white T-shirt. During performances, ballet dancers can appear as mighty gods, yet often offstage they are petite. This is not true for Ball, whose height is part of his popularity for heroic roles and partnering. With delicate traits and piercing eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is experiencing the peak of a career that has progressed seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little teasing for his early passion in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the company and was promoted annually, reaching the highest position of principal in 2018. He has relished tackling meaty characters, particularly the emotional turmoil found in Kenneth MacMillan's works.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His next featured appearance is as himself, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a performer's art. He will guide the audience through a role, showing his cognitive workflow during performance. Yet in more comedic works, the test is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Psychological Game and Post-Performance Feelings
How does he feel following a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. After Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, mild-mannered, and prone to laugh at himself. But a dance maker previously observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite energetic 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 instigator for good change."
Early Motivations and Creative Influences
Ball's tenacity stemmed from early experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was fuel to demonstrate he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.
The next challenge is making his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the conventions is compelling, 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 substance, drawing ideas from literature, music, and painting.
Intimate Dance and Private Dynamic
He also is interested in staging dance in smaller 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 thinking: 'That’s a person, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has created duets with his partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The level of faith between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." They are not typically matched on stage at their home company, which is perhaps healthy. "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 supporter."
Regarding Instagram and Bodily Image
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that highlight a sculpted physique. Does he mind that the response can be a bit objectifying? Not really. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he explains. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen on various ways.
Ball describes his early self as "desperate for success." Has it met his hopes? "I feel very aware of how life is a separate thing to the dreams you made as a child," he reflects. He probably has another decade of dancing ahead. "I suppose in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
