Within the hushed ambiance of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally straight-backed, his limbs defined beneath a simple tee. During performances, dancers can seem like powerful gods, yet frequently offstage they are petite. Not so Ball, whose tall stature is part of his demand for heroic characters and pas de deux work. Possessing delicate traits and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
An Apparent Rise to the Top
At 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered little ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved straight into the company and was advanced each year, attaining the top rank of lead dancer 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 neural fatigue."
Ball's next starring role is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" event designed to offer intimate perspectives into a performer's craft. He will guide the audience through a part, showing his cognitive workflow while performance. Yet in more comedic works, the challenge is significant. "A classic ballet is one of the toughest technically," he notes.
The Psychological Struggle and Post-Performance Feelings
How does he feel after a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel embarrassed afterwards. Following Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and quick to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker once observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I'm quite active in general, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."
Formative Motivations and Artistic Inspirations
His tenacity stemmed from youthful setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "driven!" This became motivation to prove he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.
An upcoming challenge is creating his own dance works. For Ball, "organic movement has value." "Breaking the rules is interesting, but just acting 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 Performance and Private Partnership
He additionally is interested in presenting dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past show. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re sweating.'"
Ball has created pieces 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 audacious lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." The couple are not typically matched on stage at their main theater, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he admits. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s biggest supporter."
On Social Media and Bodily Image
On Instagram, fans can see clips from his projects and images that highlight a sculpted form. Does he mind 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 states. He compares it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be seen on various ways.
Ball describes his younger self as "eager for success." Did it met his expectations? "I feel very aware of how life is a different thing to the aspirations you had as a young person," he reflects. He probably has about decade of dancing ahead. "I suppose in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
