Within the quiet ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally straight-backed, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, dancers can seem like mighty deities, yet frequently in person they are petite. Not so Ball, whose height is part of his demand for heroic roles and pas de deux work. Possessing fine features and intense eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Rise to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little teasing for his early interest in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved directly into the company and was promoted each year, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial characters, especially the psychological turmoil found in Kenneth MacMillan's works.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His upcoming featured appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series aiming to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a dancer's art. He will guide the audience through a part, demonstrating his cognitive workflow while execution. Yet in more comedic ballets, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding technically," he states.
The Mental Game and After the Show Feelings
What about following a show, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get lost in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. Following Mayerling I'm always like: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once observed on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I am very energetic in general, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I somewhat enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an catalyst for good change."
Early Drivers and Artistic Inspirations
Ball's tenacity originated in youthful setbacks. Not excelling in contests at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to prove he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit fanatical," he recalls.
The next endeavor is creating 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 aims his work to be filled with substance, drawing ideas from books, compositions, and art.
Intimate Performance and Private Partnership
He additionally is interested in presenting dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really exciting," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made pieces with his girlfriend, fellow principal 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 was like Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t usually matched on stage at their main theater, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."
On Social Media and Physical Perception
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his projects and photos that showcase a sculpted form. Does he care that the engagement can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not particularly. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he explains. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be interpreted on various levels.
Ball characterizes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it met his hopes? "I am conscious of how reality is a separate thing to the aspirations you made as a child," he reflects. He likely has another ten years of dancing left. "I suppose in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
