Within the hushed atmosphere of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally upright, his limbs defined beneath a plain white T-shirt. On stage, ballet dancers can appear as powerful deities, yet frequently offstage they are small. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his demand for heroic roles and partnering. Possessing delicate traits and piercing 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 advanced smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced minimal ridicule for his childhood interest in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated directly into the company and was promoted annually, attaining the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved taking on 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 neural fatigue."
His next starring appearance is as himself, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's art. He will guide the crowd through a role, demonstrating his mental process during execution. Even in lighter ballets, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding technically," he notes.
The Mental Game and Post-Performance Emotions
What about following a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get lost in the role, frequently I do feel embarrassed afterwards. Following an intense role I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, mild-mannered, and prone to laugh at himself. But a dance maker previously remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite active in general, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for good change."
Formative Drivers and Artistic Inspirations
Ball's determination originated in youthful experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to demonstrate he could succeed. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.
The next 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.
Intimate Performance and Personal Dynamic
He additionally favors presenting dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really exciting," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so close to the audience. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made pieces with his girlfriend, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The level 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 aren’t typically paired on stage at their home company, which might be 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 favorite supporter."
On Social Media and Physical Image
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that highlight a athletic physique. 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 seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be interpreted on multiple ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "eager for success." Has it lived up to his expectations? "I am conscious of how reality is a different reality to the dreams you made as a child," he muses. He likely has another decade of dancing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
