Matthew Ball (born 14 December 1993) is an English ballet dancer and is currently a principal dancer with

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

Early life

Ball was born in December 1993 in Liverpool. His mother is a

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private s ...

dance teacher and his father works in arts education. He started dancing at the age of 6, entered the

Royal Ballet Lower School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

at 11 and moved to the Upper School at 16. He graduated in 2013, but was unable to take part in the graduation performance because of knee surgery.

Career

Ball joined

in the 2013/14 season, became a First Artist in 2015, Soloist in 2016 and First Soloist in 2017. In March 2018, he was tasked with replacing an injured

David Hallberg David Hallberg (born May 18, 1982) is an American classical ballet dancer. He was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and resident guest artist at The Australian Ballet, as well as a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet. In 2021, ...

mid-show as Albrecht in ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' (; ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (, ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet (" ballet-pantomime") in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance cano ...

'', even though he had only danced the role once, and had never danced in a full-length ballet before with Natalia Osipova, the ballerina playing the title role. Ball's performance was given an ovation by the audience and praised in the review by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

''. Ball was promoted to principal dancer in July that year. In December, he took time off from the Royal Ballet for 32 performance as the lead swan in Matthew Bourne's ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'' at the

Sadler's Wells Theatre Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-se ...

. He has danced lead roles in ballets such as ''

'', ''

La Bayadère ''La Bayadère'' ("the temple dancer") (Russian language, ru. «Баядерка», ''Bayaderka'') is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. The ballet was ...

'', ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

'', Ashton's '' Marguerite and Armand'' and McGregor's ''Infra''. He had less than two weeks to prepare his debut as

Crown Prince Rudolf en, Rudolph Francis Charles Joseph , caption = Rudolf in 1887 , spouse = , issue = Elisabeth Marie, Princess Otto of Windisch-Graetz , house = Habsburg-Lorraine , father = Franz Joseph I of Austria , mothe ...

in MacMillan's ''

Mayerling Mayerling is a small village (pop. 200) in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat river, in the Wienerwald (''Vienna woods''), southwest of Vienna. From 1550, it was in t ...

'' to replace another injured dancer. He has also created roles in new works such as Wheeldon's ''Corybantic Games'', Marriott's ''The Unknown Soldier'', and Marston's ''The Cellist''. In 2020, Ball was featured in the BBC documentary ''Men at the Barre''. Later that year, in the first series of performances since the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

's closure due to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic, he and Mayara Magri performed a pas de deux from

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Life and career Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dan ...

's ''

Within the Golden Hour ''Within the Golden Hour'' is a one-act contemporary ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, composed by Ezio Bosso and featured music by Antonio Vivaldi. The ballet premiered in 2008 at the War Memorial Opera House, danced by the San Fr ...

'', having learnt it in five days.

Personal life

As of 2018, Ball lives in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

, London.

Selected repertoire

Ball's repertoire with the Royal Ballet includes:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Matthew Living people 1993 births Entertainers from Liverpool English male ballet dancers Principal dancers of The Royal Ballet People educated at the Royal Ballet School 21st-century British ballet dancers