Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is effortlessly upright, his limbs defined 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 tall stature is one reason for his demand for heroic characters and pas de deux work. Possessing fine features and intense eyes, there's a hint of Robert Pattinson about him.
Now 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has advanced smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered minimal ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the troupe and was promoted annually, attaining the highest position of principal in 2018. He has loved tackling substantial characters, especially the psychological turmoil found in Kenneth MacMillan's ballets.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
His upcoming starring appearance is as himself, in an "In Conversation" event designed to offer behind-the-scenes insights into a dancer's art. He will walk the audience through a role, demonstrating his cognitive process while performance. Yet in lighter ballets, the challenge is significant. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest technically," he notes.
How does he feel after a performance, when he has succeeded? "It's pretty good," he says. "But because I'm trying to extract all the juice out of it, and get lost in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious afterwards. Following Mayerling I'm always like: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. But a choreographer previously observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very active in general, but I do have a dark side," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."
His tenacity stemmed from early setbacks. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" This became motivation to prove he could achieve. Reading the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit fanatical," he recalls.
The next endeavor is creating his own dance works. In his view, "organic movement has value." "Breaking the rules is interesting, but just pretending that they’re not a reality any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He aims his work to be filled with substance, drawing inspiration from books, music, and art.
He also is interested in staging dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really exciting," he says of a past 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 partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The level of trust between them is evident. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a daring lift. "It was like Dirty Dancing." They are not usually paired on stage at their home company, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he admits. "But I feel like we’re each other’s favorite supporter."
On social media, fans can see videos from his projects and photos that showcase 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 precious about it," he explains. He relates it to viewing 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 expectations? "I am conscious of how life is a separate thing to the aspirations you made as a young person," he reflects. He probably has about decade of dancing left. "I suppose in the future, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."
Eva de Vries is a passionate book lover and local writer from Eindhoven.
