Within the hushed atmosphere of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His posture is effortlessly upright, his limbs defined beneath a plain white T-shirt. During performances, dancers can seem as mighty gods, yet frequently in person they are petite. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for heroic roles and partnering. With fine traits and intense eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Rise to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has progressed smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little ridicule for his childhood interest in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved directly into the troupe and was advanced annually, reaching the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty characters, especially the emotional angst found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His upcoming starring appearance is as himself, in an "Evening With" event designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a performer's craft. He will walk the crowd through a part, demonstrating his mental workflow during performance. Even in lighter works, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Struggle and Post-Performance Feelings
What about after a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion 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?"
In person, Ball is reflective, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker previously remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I'm quite active in general, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an instigator for good change."
Formative Drivers and Creative Influences
Ball's tenacity originated in youthful setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to prove he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he recalls.
The next challenge is making his own dance works. In his view, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging 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 literature, compositions, and art.
Intimate Performance and Personal Partnership
He additionally is interested in staging dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really exciting," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so near 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 faith between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a daring 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 determined people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he notes. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest supporter."
On Social Media and Bodily Image
On Instagram, followers can see clips from his projects and photos that showcase a athletic physique. Does he care that the engagement can be a bit objectifying? Not really. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he explains. He compares it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen on multiple levels.
Ball characterizes his younger self as "eager for success." Did it met his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a separate thing to the aspirations you had as a young person," he muses. He likely has about ten years of dancing left. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
