🔗 Share this article

Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. His posture is effortlessly upright, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. On stage, ballet dancers can seem like powerful deities, yet often in person they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for princely characters and pas de deux work. With delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.

A Seamless Ascent to the Top

Now 31, Ball is experiencing the peak of a career that has progressed smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he faced minimal ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the troupe and was advanced annually, attaining the highest position of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling meaty dramatic roles, especially the psychological angst found in Kenneth MacMillan's works.

"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."

Ball's next starring appearance is as himself, in an "In Conversation" event aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's craft. He will walk the crowd through a role, demonstrating his cognitive workflow during performance. Even in lighter ballets, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest technically," he notes.

The Mental Struggle and After the Show Emotions

What about after a performance, when he has succeeded? "It feels pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the role, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. Following Mayerling I'm always like: God, what must people think?"

Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a dance maker previously remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite active usually, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for good change."

Early Motivations and Creative Influences

Ball's tenacity originated in early experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" This became fuel to demonstrate he could succeed. Discovering 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 endeavor is creating his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Breaking the conventions is compelling, but just pretending 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 meaning, drawing ideas from books, compositions, and painting.

Close-Up Performance and Personal Partnership

He additionally is interested in staging dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous show. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"

Ball has made duets with his girlfriend, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is clear. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They are not usually paired on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."

On Social Media and Bodily Image

On Instagram, fans can see videos from his projects and photos that showcase a athletic form. 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—something that can be interpreted on multiple levels.

Ball describes his younger self as "desperate for success." Has it met his hopes? "I am conscious of how life is a separate thing to the aspirations you made as a young person," he muses. He probably has another decade of performing ahead. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."