Within the quiet ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is naturally upright, his arms muscular beneath a plain white T-shirt. During performances, ballet dancers can appear as mighty gods, yet often in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose height is part of his popularity for heroic characters and pas de deux work. With delicate traits and intense eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
A Seamless Rise to the Pinnacle
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered minimal ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated directly into the troupe and was advanced annually, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished taking on meaty characters, especially the emotional angst found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
Ball's next starring role is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" series aiming to offer behind-the-scenes insights into a performer's art. He will guide the audience through a role, demonstrating his cognitive process while execution. Yet in more comedic works, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Psychological Game and After the Show Emotions
How does he feel after a performance, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel embarrassed afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always thinking: God, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is thoughtful, mild-mannered, and quick to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once remarked on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very active in general, 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."
Early Motivations and Creative Inspirations
His tenacity stemmed from youthful experiences. Not excelling in contests at school made him "driven!" It was fuel 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 recalls.
An upcoming endeavor is creating his own dance works. In his view, "there's nothing wrong with." "Breaking the conventions 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 ideas from books, compositions, and painting.
Intimate Performance and Personal Partnership
He also is interested in presenting dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past show. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made duets with his partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of trust 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 typically matched on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite supporter."
Regarding Instagram and Physical Image
On social media, followers can see clips from his projects and photos that showcase a athletic form. Does he care that the engagement can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not really. "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 seen on various ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "eager for success." Did it lived up to his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a different reality to the aspirations you had as a young person," he muses. He likely has another decade of performing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
