Within the quiet atmosphere of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is naturally straight-backed, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. On stage, ballet dancers can appear like powerful deities, yet frequently in person they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is part of his popularity for heroic roles and pas de deux work. With fine features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Top
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced minimal ridicule for his childhood interest in ballet. Entering the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the troupe and was promoted each year, attaining the top rank of principal in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty dramatic roles, especially the psychological angst found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
Ball's upcoming starring appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's art. He will guide the crowd through a role, showing his cognitive process during execution. Even in lighter works, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest technically," he notes.
The Mental Struggle and Post-Performance Emotions
How does he feel after a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get lost in the character, quite often I do feel embarrassed afterwards. Following Mayerling I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a dance maker once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very energetic in general, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I kind of enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for good change."
Early Motivations and Creative Inspirations
Ball's tenacity stemmed from early experiences. Not excelling in contests at school made him "vengeful!" It was fuel to prove he could succeed. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit fanatical," he recalls.
The next endeavor is creating his own dance works. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the rules is interesting, 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 loaded with meaning, drawing inspiration from books, compositions, and painting.
Close-Up Dance and Private Partnership
He additionally is interested in staging dance in smaller venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past show. "You’re so near to the audience. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has created duets with his girlfriend, 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." They are not usually matched on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps beneficial. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he notes. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."
On Social Media and Bodily Image
On Instagram, followers can see clips from his projects and images that highlight a sculpted physique. Does he mind that the response can be a bit objectifying? Not really. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he explains. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be seen on multiple ways.
Ball describes his early self as "desperate for success." Has it lived up to his expectations? "I feel very aware of how reality is a separate reality to the dreams you made as a young person," he reflects. He likely has about ten years of performing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
