In the quiet atmosphere of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His carriage is effortlessly straight-backed, his limbs muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, dancers can appear as mighty deities, yet frequently offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is part of his demand for princely characters and pas de deux work. With delicate features and intense eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson 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 encountered minimal ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved straight into the company and was promoted each year, reaching the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling substantial characters, especially the psychological turmoil found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your breath is short, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His next featured appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" event aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a performer's craft. He will guide the audience through a role, showing his mental process while execution. Even in more comedic ballets, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest technically," he notes.
The Mental Game and After the Show Emotions
What about following a show, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the role, frequently I do feel self-conscious afterwards. Following an intense role I'm always like: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a dance maker once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I am very active usually, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an instigator for positive change."
Early Drivers and Artistic Influences
His determination originated in early setbacks. Not excelling in competitions at school made him "driven!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he recalls.
The next challenge is making his own choreography. For Ball, "organic movement has value." "Challenging the rules 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 inspiration from literature, compositions, and art.
Close-Up Performance and Private Partnership
He also is interested in staging dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous show. "You’re so close to the audience. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has made duets with his partner, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t typically paired on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps beneficial. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he notes. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
On Social Media and Bodily Perception
On Instagram, followers can see clips from his dance films and images that showcase a sculpted physique. 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 precious about it," he explains. He compares it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be interpreted on multiple ways.
Ball characterizes 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 had as a child," he reflects. He probably has about decade of dancing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
