Within the quiet atmosphere of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is effortlessly upright, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, dancers can seem like mighty gods, yet frequently in person they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is one reason for his demand for heroic characters and partnering. Possessing delicate features and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Rise to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has progressed seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little ridicule for his childhood interest in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the company and was advanced annually, reaching the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved taking on substantial dramatic roles, particularly the psychological angst found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
Ball's upcoming featured appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer intimate insights into a dancer's craft. He will walk the audience through a part, showing his cognitive process during performance. Even in more comedic works, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding technically," he notes.
The Psychological Game and After the Show Feelings
How does he feel after a show, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the role, quite often I do feel embarrassed later. Following an intense role I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, mild-mannered, and quick to laugh at himself. But a choreographer once observed on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I am very active in general, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an catalyst for positive change."
Early Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
His tenacity stemmed from early experiences. Not excelling in competitions at school made him "driven!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could succeed. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.
The next challenge is making his own dance works. In his view, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the conventions 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 wants his work to be loaded with meaning, drawing inspiration from literature, music, and art.
Intimate Performance and Personal Dynamic
He also is interested in staging dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really exciting," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made duets with his girlfriend, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is evident. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a daring lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t usually paired on stage at their home company, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."
Regarding Instagram and Bodily Image
On Instagram, fans can see videos from his projects and images that highlight a athletic physique. Does he care that the response can be somewhat objectifying? Not really. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he explains. He relates it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—an object 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 dreams you had as a young person," he reflects. He probably has about decade of dancing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
