In the hushed atmosphere of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally upright, his limbs defined beneath a plain white T-shirt. On stage, ballet dancers can seem as powerful deities, yet frequently offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is part of his demand for heroic characters and partnering. Possessing fine traits and piercing eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
An Apparent Rise to the Top
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has progressed smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he faced little teasing for his early passion in ballet. Joining the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved directly into the company and was promoted annually, reaching the highest position of principal in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial characters, particularly the psychological angst found in Kenneth MacMillan's works.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His upcoming featured role is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" series aiming to offer behind-the-scenes insights into a performer's craft. He will guide the audience through a role, demonstrating his mental workflow during performance. Even in lighter works, the test is significant. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he notes.
The Mental Struggle and After the Show Feelings
How does he feel following a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get lost in the role, quite often I do feel self-conscious 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 dance maker previously 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 kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for positive change."
Early Motivations and Creative Influences
Ball's tenacity stemmed from youthful setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "driven!" This became fuel 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. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the conventions 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 aims his work to be loaded with substance, drawing ideas from literature, music, and painting.
Close-Up Performance and Private Partnership
He also is interested in staging dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past experience. "You’re so near to the audience. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made duets with his girlfriend, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The level of trust between them is evident. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a daring lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They are not typically matched on stage at their main theater, which might be beneficial. "We’re both quite strong-willed 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 Instagram, followers can see videos from his projects and images that showcase a athletic form. Does he care that the engagement 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 seeing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be interpreted on various ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it lived up to his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a different thing to the aspirations you had as a child," he muses. He likely has about decade of dancing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
