Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His posture is effortlessly straight-backed, his limbs muscular beneath a simple tee. On stage, ballet dancers can appear as powerful deities, yet frequently in person they are petite. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his demand for heroic roles and partnering. Possessing fine traits and intense eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
A Seamless Rise to the Top
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered little teasing for his childhood interest in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he graduated directly into the company and was promoted annually, reaching the highest position of principal in 2018. He has loved tackling meaty dramatic roles, especially the emotional turmoil found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
Ball's next starring role is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" series aiming to offer intimate insights into a dancer's craft. He will guide the crowd through a role, showing his cognitive workflow during performance. Yet in lighter works, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Psychological Game and After the Show Emotions
How does he feel after a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "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. Following an intense role I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. Yet a choreographer once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite active usually, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."
Formative Drivers and Creative Influences
Ball's tenacity originated in early experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit fanatical," he recalls.
The next challenge is creating his own dance works. For Ball, "organic movement has value." "Challenging the rules is compelling, but just pretending that they’re not a reality 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.
Close-Up Dance and Personal Dynamic
He additionally favors staging dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so close to the audience. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made pieces with his partner, fellow principal 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." They aren’t typically matched on stage at their home company, which might be healthy. "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 supporter."
On Social Media and Bodily Image
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his projects and photos that highlight a athletic form. Does he mind that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not particularly. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he states. He compares it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen on various ways.
Ball characterizes his early self as "desperate for success." Has it lived up to his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a separate thing to the aspirations you made as a child," he muses. He likely has about decade of dancing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
