🔗 Share this article

Within the quiet ambiance of a lounge near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally upright, his limbs defined beneath a simple white T-shirt. On stage, dancers can seem as powerful deities, yet frequently offstage they are small. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his popularity for princely characters and partnering. With fine traits and intense eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.

A Seamless Ascent to the Top

Now 31, Ball is experiencing the crest of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Growing up in Liverpool, he faced minimal ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the esteemed training institution at 11, he graduated straight into the company and was promoted annually, attaining the highest position of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling 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 appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's craft. He will guide the crowd through a part, showing his mental workflow during execution. Yet in lighter works, the test is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he states.

The Mental Struggle and After the Show Feelings

How does he feel following a performance, when he has succeeded? "It feels pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the character, frequently I do feel embarrassed afterwards. Following Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"

Offstage, Ball is reflective, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite energetic in general, but I do have a melancholy streak," he reveals. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for good change."

Formative Motivations and Creative Inspirations

His determination stemmed from youthful experiences. Not excelling in contests at school made him "driven!" It was motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.

The next endeavor is creating his own dance works. In his view, "organic movement has value." "Breaking the conventions is interesting, but just acting that they’re not a reality any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He aims his work to be loaded with meaning, drawing inspiration from literature, music, and art.

Close-Up Performance and Private Dynamic

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

Ball has made pieces with his partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The level of faith between them is evident. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They aren’t typically matched on stage at their home company, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he admits. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest supporter."

On Social Media and Bodily Image

On social media, fans can see videos from his projects and images that highlight a sculpted physique. Does he care 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 compares it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be seen on multiple ways.

Ball characterizes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it met his expectations? "I feel very aware of how life is a separate thing to the aspirations you had as a young person," he muses. He probably has another ten years of dancing ahead. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."