Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is effortlessly straight-backed, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. On stage, dancers can seem as mighty gods, yet frequently offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is one reason for his popularity for princely characters and partnering. With delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a touch of Robert Pattinson about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Pinnacle
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced minimal teasing for his childhood interest in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the company and was promoted each year, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished tackling meaty dramatic roles, particularly the psychological angst found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His upcoming starring role is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" series designed to offer intimate perspectives into a performer's art. He will guide the audience through a part, showing his mental workflow during performance. Yet in more comedic ballets, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he states.
The Psychological Game and Post-Performance Emotions
How does he feel following a show, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the role, quite often I do feel self-conscious afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very active usually, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."
Formative Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
His determination originated in early experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was fuel to demonstrate he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
The next endeavor is making his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "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 aims his work to be loaded with substance, drawing ideas from literature, compositions, and art.
Intimate Dance and Private Partnership
He also is interested in presenting dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past show. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created pieces with his girlfriend, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The level of trust between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a daring lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They aren’t typically paired 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 Physical Image
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that showcase a sculpted form. Does he care that the response can be a bit 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—something that can be interpreted on various ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "desperate for success." Has it met his expectations? "I am conscious of how reality is a different reality to the aspirations you had as a child," he reflects. He likely has another decade of dancing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
