In the quiet atmosphere of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is naturally straight-backed, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, ballet dancers can seem like powerful deities, yet often offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is part of his demand for princely roles and partnering. With delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
A Seamless Rise to the Top
At 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has advanced smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered little ridicule for his childhood interest in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved directly into the company and was advanced annually, reaching the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has relished taking on meaty dramatic roles, especially the psychological angst found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His next starring role is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a dancer's craft. He will walk the audience through a part, demonstrating his mental process while execution. Yet in lighter works, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he states.
The Psychological Struggle and Post-Performance Emotions
What about after a show, when he has succeeded? "It feels 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 thinking: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. But a dance maker once remarked on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite energetic in general, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I somewhat enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an catalyst for positive change."
Formative Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
His determination stemmed from early setbacks. Not doing well in contests at school made him "vengeful!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit fanatical," he recalls.
An upcoming challenge is making his own dance works. For Ball, "organic movement has value." "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 filled with meaning, drawing inspiration from books, compositions, and painting.
Close-Up Dance and Personal Partnership
He additionally favors staging dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past show. "You’re so close 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 clear. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a daring lift. "It was like 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. "But I feel like we’re each other’s favorite supporter."
On Social Media and Physical Image
On social media, fans can see videos from his projects and images that highlight a sculpted form. Does he care that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not particularly. "The body is just what we use, 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." Has it met his hopes? "I am conscious of how life is a different thing to the aspirations you made as a young person," he muses. He probably has another ten years of performing left. "I suppose in the future, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
