Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. His posture is effortlessly straight-backed, his arms defined beneath a plain tee. On stage, dancers can seem like mighty deities, yet frequently offstage they are petite. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his demand for heroic roles and partnering. With fine traits and piercing eyes, there's a hint 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 smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered minimal teasing for his early interest in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the troupe and was promoted annually, attaining the top rank of principal in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty dramatic roles, particularly the emotional angst found in Kenneth MacMillan's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His upcoming starring role is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer intimate insights into a performer's craft. He will walk the audience through a part, showing his mental workflow during performance. Yet in lighter works, the challenge is significant. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest technically," he notes.
The Mental Game and After the Show Feelings
How does he feel after a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the character, frequently I do feel self-conscious afterwards. Following an intense role I'm always thinking: 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 "sense of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I'm quite active usually, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for positive change."
Formative Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
His tenacity stemmed from early setbacks. Not excelling in competitions at school made him "driven!" It was fuel to demonstrate he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.
An upcoming endeavor is making his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Breaking 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, compositions, and art.
Close-Up Dance and Personal Partnership
He additionally favors staging dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past show. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created duets with his girlfriend, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a daring lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They are not usually paired on stage at their home company, which might be beneficial. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."
On Social Media and Physical Perception
On Instagram, fans can see videos from his dance films and images that showcase a athletic physique. Does he mind that the response can be a bit objectifying? Not really. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he states. 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." Has it met his hopes? "I am conscious of how life is a different thing to the dreams you made as a child," he reflects. He likely has another ten years of performing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
