Within the quiet atmosphere of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is effortlessly straight-backed, his arms defined beneath a simple white T-shirt. During performances, ballet dancers can appear like powerful deities, yet often offstage they are petite. Not so Ball, whose height is one reason for his demand for princely roles and pas de deux work. Possessing fine features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Ascent to the Top
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has progressed smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he faced minimal teasing for his early passion in ballet. Joining the esteemed training institution at 11, he graduated straight into the company and was advanced annually, reaching the top rank of principal in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial 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 starring appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a dancer's art. He will guide the crowd through a part, demonstrating his mental workflow during execution. Yet in more comedic works, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest technically," he notes.
The Mental Game and Post-Performance Emotions
What about following a show, when he has succeeded? "It feels pretty good," he admits. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the role, frequently I do feel embarrassed afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker previously remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I am very energetic usually, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an instigator for positive change."
Formative Motivations and Creative Inspirations
Ball's tenacity stemmed from early experiences. Not excelling in contests at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to prove he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit obsessive," he remembers.
The next endeavor is creating his own choreography. For Ball, "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 loaded with meaning, drawing inspiration from literature, compositions, and painting.
Close-Up Dance and Personal Partnership
He also favors presenting dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really exciting," he says of a previous show. "You’re so near to the audience. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has made duets with his girlfriend, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of faith between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a daring lift. "It was like 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 admits. "But I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."
On Social Media and Bodily Perception
On Instagram, fans can see videos from his dance films and photos that showcase a athletic form. Does he care that the response can be somewhat objectifying? Not particularly. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he explains. He relates it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be seen on multiple ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "desperate for success." Has it lived up to his expectations? "I am conscious of how life is a different reality to the dreams you had as a young person," he muses. He likely has another ten years of dancing left. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
