In the quiet ambiance of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His posture is naturally straight-backed, his limbs muscular beneath a simple white T-shirt. During performances, dancers can appear like powerful gods, yet frequently offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is one reason for his demand for heroic roles and partnering. With fine features and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is experiencing the crest of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered minimal teasing for his early passion in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved directly into the company and was advanced annually, attaining the highest position of principal in 2018. He has relished tackling substantial dramatic roles, especially the emotional turmoil found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
Ball's upcoming starring role is as himself, in an "In Conversation" series aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's craft. He will walk the audience through a part, demonstrating his mental workflow during execution. Even in more comedic ballets, the test is significant. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Struggle and After the Show Feelings
What about 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 lost in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is reflective, mild-mannered, and prone to laugh at himself. But a dance maker once remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "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 negativity has been an instigator for positive change."
Early Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
His tenacity stemmed from youthful setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was fuel to demonstrate he could succeed. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
An upcoming challenge is creating his own dance works. For Ball, "organic movement has value." "Challenging the rules is interesting, 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 meaning, drawing inspiration from literature, music, and art.
Intimate Performance and Private Dynamic
He additionally is interested in presenting dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous show. "You’re so near to the audience. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a person, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has created duets with his partner, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is evident. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a daring lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple are not typically paired on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps beneficial. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
On Social Media and Physical Image
On social media, followers can see clips from his projects and images that highlight a athletic form. Does he care that the response can be a bit focused on appearance? Not really. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he states. He relates it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be interpreted on multiple ways.
Ball characterizes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it met his expectations? "I feel very aware of how life is a different thing to the dreams you had as a young person," he reflects. He probably has another ten years of dancing ahead. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
