Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is effortlessly straight-backed, his arms defined beneath a simple white T-shirt. During performances, ballet dancers can seem as powerful deities, yet often offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is one reason for his demand for princely roles and pas de deux work. Possessing fine features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Rise to the Top
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced little teasing for his early interest in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the troupe and was advanced annually, attaining the highest position of principal in 2018. He has relished tackling meaty dramatic roles, particularly the psychological angst found in Kenneth MacMillan's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
Ball's next featured role is as himself, in an "Evening With" event aiming to offer intimate insights into a performer's art. He will walk the audience through a role, showing his cognitive workflow while performance. Even in more comedic works, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he states.
The Psychological Game and After the Show Emotions
What about after a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the character, frequently I do feel embarrassed afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a choreographer once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very active usually, but I do have a melancholy streak," he reveals. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for positive change."
Formative Motivations and Creative Inspirations
Ball's tenacity stemmed from early experiences. Not doing well in contests at school made him "vengeful!" This became fuel to demonstrate 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 remembers.
An upcoming endeavor is making his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the rules is interesting, but just acting 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 meaning, drawing ideas from literature, compositions, and art.
Intimate Performance and Personal Partnership
He also is interested in presenting dance in smaller 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 realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made pieces with his partner, 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 resembled Dirty Dancing." They aren’t 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 notes. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
Regarding Instagram and Physical Perception
On Instagram, followers can see clips from his dance films and photos that showcase a sculpted form. Does he mind that the response can be a bit focused on appearance? Not particularly. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he states. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen on various ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "eager for success." Did it met his hopes? "I am conscious of how reality is a different reality to the dreams you had as a child," he reflects. He likely has another decade of dancing left. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
