In the quiet ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. His posture is naturally straight-backed, his limbs defined beneath a plain tee. On stage, ballet dancers can seem like powerful deities, yet frequently offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is part of his demand for heroic roles and pas de deux work. With delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Pinnacle
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced minimal teasing for his childhood interest in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated directly into the company and was promoted each year, reaching the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial characters, especially the emotional angst found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His upcoming featured appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a dancer's art. He will walk the crowd through a role, demonstrating his cognitive process while performance. Yet in lighter works, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest technically," he states.
The Mental Struggle and Post-Performance Emotions
What about following a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the character, frequently I do feel self-conscious later. After Mayerling I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, mild-mannered, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "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 negativity has been an catalyst for positive change."
Early Drivers and Creative Influences
Ball's determination originated in early experiences. Not excelling in contests at school made him "vengeful!" It was fuel to demonstrate he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit obsessive," he recalls.
An upcoming challenge is making his own dance works. In his view, "organic movement has value." "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 meaning, drawing inspiration from literature, compositions, and painting.
Close-Up Performance and Private Partnership
He also is interested in staging dance in smaller venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has created duets with his partner, fellow principal 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 typically matched on stage at their home company, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he notes. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."
On Social Media and Physical Image
On Instagram, followers can see clips from his dance films and images that highlight a athletic form. Does he care that the response can be a bit focused on appearance? 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 interpreted on multiple levels.
Ball describes his early self as "eager for success." Did it met his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a different reality to the aspirations you made as a child," he reflects. He probably has another ten years of dancing ahead. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
