In the hushed ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is effortlessly straight-backed, his limbs muscular beneath a simple tee. During performances, ballet dancers can seem like powerful deities, yet often in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his demand for heroic characters and partnering. Possessing fine features 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 progressed smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered minimal ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated directly into the company and was promoted each year, reaching the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has relished tackling substantial characters, especially the psychological angst found in Kenneth MacMillan's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His next featured role is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer intimate insights into a dancer's art. He will walk the audience through a part, showing his mental process during performance. Yet in more comedic ballets, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest technically," he states.
The Mental Game and After the Show Emotions
What about after a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get lost in the role, frequently I do feel self-conscious later. Following Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once observed on a "sense of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very energetic usually, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."
Early Motivations and Artistic Influences
Ball's determination originated in youthful experiences. Not excelling in contests at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to prove he could succeed. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
An upcoming challenge is making his own dance works. In his view, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the rules 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 wants his work to be filled with substance, drawing ideas from literature, compositions, and art.
Close-Up Performance and Private Dynamic
He additionally is interested in staging dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past show. "You’re so near to the audience. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, 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 first practiced on a beach," he says of a audacious lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t typically 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. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
On Social Media and Physical Perception
On social media, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that highlight a athletic form. Does he care that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not really. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he states. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen on various ways.
Ball characterizes his younger self as "eager for success." Did it met his hopes? "I am conscious of how life is a different thing to the aspirations you made as a child," he muses. He probably has another decade of dancing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
