Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His posture is effortlessly straight-backed, his arms defined beneath a plain tee. On stage, dancers can appear like mighty gods, yet frequently in person they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his demand for heroic characters and partnering. With fine features and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Top
Now 31, Ball is experiencing the peak of a career that has progressed smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered minimal teasing for his early interest in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the troupe and was advanced each year, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has loved tackling meaty dramatic roles, particularly the psychological turmoil found in a famed choreographer's ballets.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His upcoming featured appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" event designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a performer's art. He will walk the audience through a part, showing his cognitive process during performance. Even in more comedic works, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he states.
The Psychological Struggle and After the Show Emotions
How does he feel following a performance, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he admits. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. After Mayerling I'm always thinking: God, what must people think?"
In person, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a dance maker previously observed on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite energetic usually, but I do have a melancholy streak," he reveals. "I kind of enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an catalyst for positive change."
Early Drivers and Artistic Inspirations
Ball's determination stemmed from youthful experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation 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 recalls.
An upcoming challenge is making his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Breaking 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 filled with substance, drawing inspiration from literature, compositions, and art.
Intimate Performance and Private Partnership
He additionally is interested in staging dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past show. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made pieces with his girlfriend, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They aren’t typically paired on stage at their main theater, which might be healthy. "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 Perception
On Instagram, fans can see videos from his projects and photos that showcase a athletic form. Does he care that the engagement can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not really. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he explains. He compares it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen on multiple ways.
Ball describes his early self as "eager for success." Has it met his expectations? "I feel very aware of how life is a separate thing to the dreams you had as a child," he reflects. He probably has about ten years of dancing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
