Within the quiet atmosphere of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally straight-backed, his limbs muscular beneath a simple tee. On stage, ballet dancers can appear like powerful gods, yet frequently offstage they are small. Not so Ball, whose height is one reason for his demand for princely roles and pas de deux work. With fine features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has progressed seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced little teasing for his early passion in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved directly into the company and was promoted annually, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty dramatic roles, especially the psychological angst found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
Ball's next featured appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series aiming to offer intimate insights into a dancer's art. He will walk the crowd through a part, showing his mental process during performance. Even in lighter ballets, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the most demanding from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Game and Post-Performance Feelings
How does he feel after a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "But because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the role, quite often I do feel embarrassed afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always like: Wow, what must people think?"
In person, 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 energetic in general, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for positive change."
Early Motivations and Creative Inspirations
Ball's tenacity originated in early experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to prove he could succeed. 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 choreography. In his view, "organic movement has value." "Challenging the rules is compelling, 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 literature, compositions, and painting.
Close-Up Dance and Private Dynamic
He additionally is interested in staging dance in smaller venues. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past show. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created duets with his girlfriend, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The level of faith between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a daring lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They aren’t usually paired on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite supporter."
On Social Media and Bodily Perception
On Instagram, fans can see videos from his dance films and images that showcase a sculpted form. Does he care that the engagement can be somewhat objectifying? Not really. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he states. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be seen on various ways.
Ball characterizes his early self as "eager for success." Did it met his hopes? "I feel very aware of how life is a separate thing to the aspirations you had as a child," he reflects. He probably has about ten years of dancing left. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
