Within the hushed ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is naturally upright, his limbs defined beneath a simple white T-shirt. During performances, ballet dancers can appear like mighty deities, yet frequently in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his demand for princely characters and partnering. With fine features and intense eyes, there's a touch of Robert Pattinson about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced minimal teasing for his childhood interest in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved directly into the company and was promoted each year, reaching the highest position of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling meaty characters, particularly the emotional angst found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His upcoming featured appearance is as himself, in an "In Conversation" event designed to offer behind-the-scenes insights into a dancer's art. He will walk the crowd through a role, showing his mental workflow during performance. Even in lighter works, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he states.
The Psychological Struggle and Post-Performance Emotions
What about after a show, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get lost in the character, quite often I do feel embarrassed afterwards. Following an intense role I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is thoughtful, mild-mannered, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a choreographer previously remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I am very active usually, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an catalyst for good change."
Early Drivers and Artistic Influences
His tenacity stemmed from youthful setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could succeed. Discovering 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 making his own dance works. In his view, "organic movement has value." "Breaking the rules 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 painting.
Intimate Dance and Private Dynamic
He also favors presenting dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: '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 was like Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t typically matched on stage at their home company, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he notes. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
On Social Media and Physical Perception
On social media, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that highlight a athletic physique. Does he mind that the response can be a bit 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 seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be interpreted on multiple ways.
Ball characterizes his early self as "desperate for success." Has it lived up to his hopes? "I feel very aware of how life is a separate reality to the dreams you had as a young person," he reflects. He likely has another ten years of dancing left. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
