Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is naturally straight-backed, his arms defined beneath a plain tee. During performances, dancers can appear like powerful gods, yet frequently in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his popularity for princely roles and pas de deux work. Possessing delicate traits and intense eyes, there's a hint 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. Raised in Liverpool, he faced minimal teasing for his childhood interest in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved straight into the troupe and was promoted each year, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial characters, particularly the emotional turmoil found in Kenneth MacMillan's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a neural fatigue."
His next featured role 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 while execution. Yet in lighter ballets, the challenge is significant. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest technically," he notes.
The Psychological Struggle and Post-Performance Emotions
What about following a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious later. Following an intense role I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, mild-mannered, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I am very 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 positive change."
Formative Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
Ball's determination stemmed from early setbacks. Not excelling in competitions at school made him "driven!" It was fuel to demonstrate 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 endeavor 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 thing any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He wants his work to be filled with substance, drawing ideas from literature, compositions, and art.
Close-Up Dance and Personal Partnership
He additionally favors staging dance in smaller venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous show. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has made pieces with his partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is evident. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple are not usually matched 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. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest supporter."
On Social Media and Physical Image
On Instagram, followers can see clips from his dance films and photos that showcase a sculpted physique. Does he mind that the engagement can be somewhat focused on appearance? 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—an object that can be interpreted on multiple ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "eager for success." Did it met his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a different thing to the aspirations you had as a child," he reflects. He likely has another ten years of dancing left. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
