Within the quiet atmosphere of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. His carriage is effortlessly upright, his limbs muscular beneath a simple tee. On stage, dancers can seem as mighty deities, yet frequently offstage they are petite. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for princely characters and partnering. With fine traits and piercing eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Pinnacle
Now 31, Ball is experiencing the crest of a career that has progressed seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced little teasing for his childhood passion in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the company and was advanced annually, attaining the highest position of principal in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty characters, particularly the emotional angst found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His next featured role is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" series aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's craft. He will walk the crowd through a part, showing his mental workflow while execution. Even in lighter works, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Psychological Struggle and Post-Performance Emotions
What about following a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel embarrassed afterwards. Following an intense role I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. But a dance maker once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite energetic in general, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for positive change."
Formative Motivations and Creative Influences
Ball's tenacity originated in youthful experiences. Not excelling in contests at school made him "driven!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It changed everything, 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 compelling, 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 painting.
Intimate Dance and Private Partnership
He also favors presenting dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really exciting," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a person, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has made duets with his partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of faith between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t usually paired on stage at their home company, which is perhaps 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 biggest cheerleader."
On Social Media and Bodily Perception
On Instagram, fans can see videos from his projects and images that showcase a athletic physique. Does he care that the response can be a bit focused on appearance? Not particularly. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he explains. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be interpreted on multiple levels.
Ball describes his early self as "eager for success." Has it lived up to his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a different thing to the aspirations you had as a child," he reflects. He probably has about decade of dancing left. "I suppose in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
