In the hushed ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. The dancer's posture is effortlessly straight-backed, his arms muscular beneath a simple tee. During performances, dancers can appear as mighty deities, yet often offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his popularity for heroic roles and partnering. Possessing fine traits and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Rise to the Pinnacle
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has advanced smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved straight into the company and was promoted annually, attaining the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial dramatic roles, especially the emotional turmoil found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
Ball's upcoming featured role is in a talk, in an "Evening With" event aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a performer's art. He will walk the crowd through a part, demonstrating his cognitive process while performance. Yet in lighter works, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest technically," he notes.
The Mental Struggle and Post-Performance Feelings
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 lost in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious afterwards. Following Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. But a choreographer once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very energetic usually, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an instigator for positive change."
Formative Motivations and Artistic Influences
His tenacity stemmed from youthful experiences. Not excelling in competitions at school made him "driven!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
The next challenge is creating his own dance works. In his view, "organic movement has value." "Breaking the conventions is interesting, but just acting 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 substance, drawing inspiration from literature, compositions, and painting.
Intimate Performance and Personal Dynamic
He also is interested in staging dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous show. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, 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 first practiced on a beach," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple are not usually paired on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
Regarding Instagram and Bodily Perception
On Instagram, followers can see clips from his projects and images that showcase a sculpted form. Does he mind that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not particularly. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he explains. He compares it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be interpreted on multiple ways.
Ball describes his early self as "eager for success." Has it met his expectations? "I feel very aware of how reality is a different thing to the aspirations you had as a child," he muses. He probably has another ten years of dancing left. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
