🔗 Share this article

In the hushed atmosphere of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally straight-backed, his limbs muscular beneath a plain white T-shirt. During performances, dancers can seem as mighty deities, yet often offstage they are small. This is not true for Ball, whose height is one reason for his popularity for heroic characters and pas de deux work. Possessing fine traits and intense eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.

An Apparent Ascent to the Pinnacle

Now 31, Ball is enjoying the peak of a career that has advanced smoothly. Growing up in Liverpool, he encountered little teasing for his early passion in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he graduated directly into the troupe and was promoted each year, attaining the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling meaty characters, especially the psychological angst found in a famed choreographer's ballets.

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

His next featured appearance is as himself, in an "Evening With" event aiming to offer intimate perspectives into a performer's craft. He will guide the crowd through a role, showing his cognitive workflow during execution. Even in lighter works, the challenge is profound. "A classic ballet is one of the most demanding technically," he states.

The Mental Game and After the Show Feelings

What about following a show, when he has pulled it off? "It feels pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the role, frequently I do feel embarrassed later. Following Mayerling I'm always like: Wow, what must people think?"

In person, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker previously observed on a "sense of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very active usually, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I somewhat enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for positive change."

Formative Drivers and Artistic Influences

His determination stemmed from early experiences. Not excelling in contests at school made him "vengeful!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could achieve. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.

An upcoming endeavor is creating his own dance works. In his view, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the rules is interesting, 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 substance, drawing inspiration from literature, compositions, and art.

Intimate Performance and Private Dynamic

He also favors staging dance in more intimate 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 thinking: 'That’s a human, and they’re perspiring.'"

Ball has made pieces with his partner, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of faith between them is evident. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a daring lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple are not usually matched on stage at their home company, which is perhaps beneficial. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he notes. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."

On Social Media and Physical Perception

On Instagram, fans can see videos from his dance films and images that highlight a athletic form. Does he care that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not really. "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 levels.

Ball characterizes his younger self as "desperate for success." Did it lived up to his expectations? "I feel very aware of how reality is a separate thing to the dreams you made as a child," he muses. He probably has another decade of performing left. "I suppose in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."