Within the hushed ambiance of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is naturally upright, his limbs muscular beneath a simple white T-shirt. On stage, ballet dancers can appear like mighty deities, yet often in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his demand for heroic characters and partnering. With delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a touch of Robert Pattinson about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Top
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has progressed smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered minimal teasing for his early passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the company and was promoted annually, reaching the highest position of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty dramatic roles, particularly the emotional angst 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 in a talk, in an "In Conversation" series designed to offer intimate insights into a dancer's art. He will guide the crowd through a part, demonstrating his cognitive workflow during execution. Even in lighter ballets, the test is significant. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest technically," he states.
The Mental Game and Post-Performance Emotions
What about after a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the character, frequently I do feel self-conscious later. Following an intense role I'm always like: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a choreographer once remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I am very active usually, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an instigator for good change."
Early Drivers and Artistic Influences
Ball's tenacity stemmed from youthful setbacks. Not doing well in contests at school made him "vengeful!" This became fuel to demonstrate he could succeed. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit obsessive," he recalls.
The next challenge is creating his own dance works. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the conventions is interesting, but just acting that they’re not a thing 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 Performance and Personal Partnership
He additionally is interested in staging dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous show. "You’re so close to the audience. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created pieces with his partner, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The level of faith between them is clear. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They are not typically paired on stage at their home company, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he notes. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
On Social Media and Physical Perception
On social media, fans can see clips from his projects and images that showcase a sculpted physique. Does he mind that the response can be a bit objectifying? 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 viewing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be interpreted on multiple levels.
Ball characterizes his early 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 young person," 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."
