Within the quiet atmosphere of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is naturally upright, his arms muscular beneath a simple tee. During performances, ballet dancers can appear as mighty gods, yet often in person they are petite. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his demand for princely roles and partnering. With fine traits and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is experiencing the crest of a career that has progressed seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated directly into the company and was advanced each year, reaching the highest position of lead dancer in 2018. He has relished tackling meaty characters, especially the psychological turmoil found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His next featured appearance is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" event designed to offer intimate insights into a dancer's craft. He will guide the audience through a part, demonstrating his mental workflow while performance. Yet in lighter ballets, the challenge is significant. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Game and Post-Performance Feelings
What about after a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. After Mayerling I'm always like: Wow, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a choreographer once observed on a "sense of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very active in general, 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."
Early Drivers and Artistic Inspirations
Ball's tenacity stemmed from early setbacks. Not excelling in contests at school made him "vengeful!" It was fuel to demonstrate he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit fanatical," he recalls.
The next challenge is making his own dance works. In his view, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the conventions is compelling, but just pretending that they’re not a thing any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He aims his work to be loaded with meaning, drawing ideas from books, compositions, and art.
Close-Up Dance and Private Dynamic
He also favors staging dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past show. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created pieces with his partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of faith between them is evident. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They aren’t usually matched 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 notes. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
On Social Media and Bodily Perception
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his dance films and photos that showcase a athletic physique. Does he care that the engagement can be somewhat 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—something that can be interpreted on multiple ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "eager for success." Has it met his expectations? "I am conscious of how reality is a separate reality to the aspirations you made as a young person," he muses. He probably has about ten years of dancing left. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
