🔗 Share this article

Within the quiet atmosphere of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. His posture is effortlessly upright, his arms defined beneath a simple white T-shirt. During performances, dancers can appear as powerful deities, yet frequently in person they are small. Not so Ball, whose height is one reason for his demand for heroic characters and partnering. With fine features and piercing eyes, there's a touch of a brooding actor about him.

A Seamless Rise to the Top

At 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Growing up in Liverpool, he faced little ridicule for his early passion in ballet. Entering the esteemed training institution at 11, he moved directly into the company and was promoted annually, reaching the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has loved tackling substantial characters, especially the psychological angst found in Kenneth MacMillan's ballets.

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

Ball's upcoming starring appearance is in a talk, in an "In Conversation" event aiming to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a dancer's craft. He will guide the crowd through a part, showing his cognitive workflow during performance. Even in lighter works, the test is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest technically," he notes.

The Psychological Game and Post-Performance Emotions

How does he feel after a performance, when he has pulled it off? "It's pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the emotion out of it, and get lost in the role, quite often I do feel embarrassed later. After an intense role I'm always like: God, what must people think?"

Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a dance maker previously observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very energetic usually, but I do have a melancholy streak," he confesses. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."

Early Motivations and Creative Inspirations

Ball's tenacity stemmed from early experiences. Not doing well in contests at school made him "driven!" This became motivation to demonstrate he could succeed. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit obsessive," he recalls.

An upcoming challenge is creating his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Breaking the conventions 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 ideas from literature, music, and art.

Intimate Dance and Personal Partnership

He also favors presenting dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," 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 level of trust between them is evident. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They are not usually matched on stage at their home company, which is perhaps beneficial. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he notes. "Yet I feel like we’re each other’s favorite cheerleader."

On Social Media and Bodily Perception

On Instagram, followers can see videos from his dance films and photos that highlight a athletic form. Does he care that the response can be a bit objectifying? Not particularly. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very precious about it," he states. He compares it to seeing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be seen on various ways.

Ball describes his younger self as "desperate for success." Has it lived up to his hopes? "I feel very aware of how reality is a different reality to the aspirations you made as a young person," he reflects. He probably has another decade of performing ahead. "I guess in the future, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."