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Within the hushed atmosphere of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball requests a mint tea. The dancer's posture is effortlessly upright, his limbs muscular beneath a simple white T-shirt. During performances, dancers can appear as powerful gods, yet frequently offstage they are petite. This is not true for Ball, whose tall stature is one reason for his demand for heroic characters and partnering. With delicate features and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.

A Seamless Rise to the Top

Now 31, Ball is enjoying the crest of a career that has progressed seamlessly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little teasing for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he graduated straight into the company and was promoted each year, attaining the top rank of lead dancer in 2018. He has relished taking on substantial dramatic roles, particularly the emotional turmoil found in a famed choreographer's ballets.

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

His next featured appearance is in a talk, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer behind-the-scenes perspectives into a performer's art. He will guide the audience through a role, showing his cognitive workflow while performance. Yet in more comedic ballets, the challenge is significant. "A classic ballet 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 admits. "However because I'm trying to squeeze all the juice out of it, and get immersed in the character, quite often I do feel self-conscious afterwards. After Mayerling I'm always thinking: Wow, what must people think?"

Offstage, Ball is thoughtful, mild-mannered, and quick to laugh at himself. But a dance maker once remarked on a "sense of suffering in him." Does this exist? "I am very active in general, but I do have a melancholy streak," he reveals. "I somewhat enjoy negativity sometimes. I've always felt that negativity has been an instigator for good change."

Formative Drivers and Artistic Inspirations

His tenacity stemmed from early setbacks. Not doing well in contests at school made him "driven!" This became fuel to demonstrate he could succeed. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "pivotal" moment. "It flipped a switch, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.

The next challenge is creating 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 wants his work to be loaded with substance, drawing inspiration from literature, compositions, and art.

Intimate Dance and Private Partnership

He also is interested in staging dance in more intimate spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a past experience. "You’re so close to the viewers. I felt as if they were realizing: 'That’s a human, and they’re sweating.'"

Ball has created duets with his girlfriend, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The level of faith between them is clear. "We first practiced on a beach," he says of a daring lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple aren’t typically matched on stage at their main theater, which might be 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."

Regarding Instagram and Physical Perception

On social media, followers can see videos from his dance films and photos that highlight a athletic physique. Does he mind that the response can be a bit 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 describes his younger self as "eager for success." Has it lived up to his expectations? "I feel very aware of how reality is a separate thing to the aspirations you made as a child," he reflects. He probably has about decade of performing ahead. "I suppose in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."