In the quiet ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. His posture is naturally upright, his arms muscular beneath a plain white T-shirt. During performances, ballet dancers can appear as powerful deities, yet often offstage they are small. Not so Ball, whose height is one reason for his popularity for princely characters and pas de deux work. Possessing fine features and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Rise to the Pinnacle
Now 31, Ball is experiencing the crest of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Growing up in Liverpool, he faced minimal ridicule for his childhood interest in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved directly into the troupe and was promoted each year, attaining the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial dramatic roles, especially the emotional angst found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your lungs are burning, 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 crowd through a part, showing his mental process during execution. Even in more comedic works, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Game and Post-Performance Emotions
What about following a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the role, quite often I do feel embarrassed afterwards. Following Mayerling I'm always thinking: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. But a choreographer once remarked on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite active in general, 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."
Formative Motivations and Creative Influences
His determination originated in youthful setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to prove he could succeed. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit obsessive," he recalls.
The next challenge is creating his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the rules is interesting, but just pretending that they’re not a reality 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 books, compositions, and painting.
Intimate Performance and Private Partnership
He also is interested in staging dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past experience. "You’re so close to the audience. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has made duets with his partner, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is clear. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a daring lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They aren’t usually matched on stage at their home company, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he notes. "But I feel like we’re each other’s favorite supporter."
On Social Media and Bodily Image
On social media, fans can see clips from his projects and images that highlight a athletic form. Does he mind that the response can be somewhat objectifying? Not particularly. "The body is just what we work with, 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 levels.
Ball describes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it lived up to his expectations? "I feel very aware of how reality is a separate thing to the dreams you made as a child," he muses. He probably has another decade of dancing left. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
