Matthew Ball

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

Early life Ball was born in December 1993 in Liverpool. His mother is a GCSE dance teacher and his father works in arts education.

Career

Ball joined The Royal Ballet 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 mid-show as Albrecht in Giselle, 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. Ball was promoted to principal dancer in July that year.

He has danced lead roles in ballets such as Swan Lake, La Bayadère, Don Quixote, Ashton's Marguerite and Armand and McGregor's Infra. Marriott's The Unknown Soldier,

In 2020, Ball was featured in the BBC documentary Men at the Barre.

Personal life As of 2023, Ball lived in north London, with his partner, fellow Royal Ballet principal Mayara Magri.

Selected repertoire Ball's repertoire with the Royal Ballet includes: Connectome Corybantic Games The Illustrated 'Farewell'''MedusaMultiverseObsidian TearThe Unknown SoldierUntouchable''