Within the quiet ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is effortlessly upright, his arms defined beneath a simple white T-shirt. On stage, dancers can appear like powerful deities, yet often offstage they are petite. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for heroic characters and pas de deux work. With fine traits and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Rise to the Top
Now 31, Ball is experiencing the peak of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced minimal ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the company and was advanced each year, attaining the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling substantial characters, especially the emotional turmoil found in Kenneth MacMillan's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
Ball's upcoming featured appearance is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" series designed to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's art. He will walk the crowd through a role, showing his cognitive process during performance. Yet in lighter ballets, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest technically," he states.
The Mental Game and After the Show Emotions
What about following a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the character, frequently I do feel self-conscious later. Following Mayerling I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, 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 usually, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."
Early Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
Ball's tenacity stemmed from youthful setbacks. Not doing well in contests at school made him "driven!" It was motivation to prove he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
An upcoming challenge is making his own choreography. In his view, "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 wants his work to be filled with substance, drawing inspiration from books, music, and art.
Intimate Performance and Personal Dynamic
He additionally favors staging dance in more intimate 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 thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has made duets with his partner, fellow lead dancer 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." They are not 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 admits. "But I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."
On Social Media and Bodily Image
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that showcase a athletic physique. Does he care that the engagement 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—an object that can be interpreted on various levels.
Ball characterizes his younger self as "eager for success." Did it met his expectations? "I am conscious of how reality is a separate reality to the dreams you had as a child," he muses. He probably has about decade of performing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
