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In the quiet ambiance of a lounge near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. The dancer's carriage is effortlessly straight-backed, his arms muscular beneath a plain tee. During performances, dancers can seem like powerful deities, yet frequently in person 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 piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.

An Apparent Ascent to the Top

Now 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has advanced seamlessly. Growing up in Liverpool, he faced minimal ridicule for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved directly into the troupe and was advanced annually, attaining the top rank of principal in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty dramatic roles, particularly the psychological turmoil found in a famed choreographer'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" event designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a dancer's craft. He will guide the crowd through a role, showing his cognitive workflow while performance. Even in lighter ballets, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest technically," he states.

The Mental Game and Post-Performance Emotions

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

Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, mild-mannered, and quick to laugh at himself. Yet a choreographer once observed on a "sense of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite energetic usually, but I do have a dark side," he reveals. "I kind of enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an catalyst for good change."

Early Motivations and Artistic Influences

His determination stemmed from youthful experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "driven!" It was motivation to demonstrate he could succeed. 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 challenge is making his own dance works. In his view, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the rules is compelling, 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 filled with substance, drawing ideas from literature, music, and art.

Close-Up Dance and Personal Partnership

He also favors staging dance in more intimate venues. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a person, and they’re perspiring.'"

Ball has made duets with his partner, fellow lead dancer Mayara Magri. The degree of trust between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." They aren’t usually matched on stage at their main theater, which might be healthy. "We’re both quite strong-willed people, so it’s not always smooth sailing," he notes. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest supporter."

Regarding Instagram and Bodily Image

On social media, followers can see clips from his projects and images that showcase a athletic form. Does he care that the response can be a bit objectifying? Not really. "The body is just what we use, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he states. He relates it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—an object that can be interpreted on multiple ways.

Ball describes his early self as "desperate for success." Did it lived up to his hopes? "I feel very aware of how life is a separate thing to the aspirations you made as a child," he reflects. He likely has another decade of dancing left. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more kind with myself."