🔗 Share this article

Within the quiet atmosphere of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. His carriage is naturally straight-backed, his limbs defined beneath a simple tee. On stage, dancers can seem as mighty deities, yet frequently in person they are petite. This is not true for Ball, whose height is part of his popularity for heroic roles and pas de deux work. Possessing delicate features and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.

An Apparent Rise to the Top

At 31, Ball is experiencing the peak of a career that has progressed seamlessly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered minimal ridicule for his early passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the troupe and was advanced annually, attaining the highest position of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling meaty characters, especially the emotional angst found in Kenneth MacMillan's ballets.

"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."

His next featured role is as himself, in an "Evening With" series aiming to offer intimate insights into a performer's art. He will walk the audience through a role, showing his cognitive process during execution. Even in lighter works, the challenge is significant. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he states.

The Mental Struggle and Post-Performance Emotions

How does he feel after a performance, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he admits. "But because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the role, quite often I do feel self-conscious afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"

Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a choreographer once remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I'm quite energetic in general, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an catalyst for positive change."

Formative Drivers and Creative Inspirations

His tenacity originated in early experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" This became fuel to prove he could succeed. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.

The next challenge is creating his own choreography. In his view, "organic movement has value." "Challenging the rules 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 wants his work to be filled with substance, drawing ideas from literature, compositions, and painting.

Intimate Dance and Private Partnership

He also favors staging dance in smaller venues. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past experience. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"

Ball has made pieces with his girlfriend, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of faith 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 paired on stage at their main theater, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."

On Social Media and Bodily Perception

On social media, fans can see clips from his dance films and images that highlight a sculpted form. Does he care that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not really. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he states. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen on multiple ways.

Ball characterizes his early self as "desperate for success." Has it met his expectations? "I am conscious of how reality is a different thing to the aspirations you made as a young person," he reflects. He likely has another ten years of dancing ahead. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."