In the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is effortlessly straight-backed, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, ballet dancers can appear like powerful deities, yet often in person they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for princely roles and partnering. Possessing delicate features and intense eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is experiencing the peak of a career that has advanced smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered little ridicule for his early passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved directly into the company and was promoted annually, attaining the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has relished tackling meaty characters, especially the emotional turmoil found in Kenneth MacMillan's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
Ball's next starring appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series aiming to offer intimate insights into a dancer's craft. He will guide the crowd through a role, showing his cognitive process while execution. Yet in more comedic works, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Struggle and After the Show Feelings
What about after a performance, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel embarrassed later. Following an intense role I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. Yet a choreographer once remarked on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very energetic in general, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for good change."
Early Drivers and Creative Inspirations
His determination originated in early setbacks. Not doing well in contests at school made him "vengeful!" This became motivation 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 remembers.
The next challenge is creating his own dance works. For Ball, "organic movement has value." "Challenging the conventions 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 wants his work to be filled with meaning, drawing ideas from literature, compositions, and art.
Close-Up Dance and Private Partnership
He additionally is interested in staging dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous show. "You’re so near to the audience. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created pieces 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 audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t typically paired on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps healthy. "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, followers can see clips from his dance films and photos that showcase a sculpted physique. Does he mind that the response can be somewhat objectifying? Not particularly. "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 levels.
Ball describes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it lived up to his expectations? "I am conscious of how reality is a separate reality to the dreams you had as a child," he muses. He likely has about ten years of dancing left. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
