Matthew Ball (dancer)
Matthew Ball | |
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Born | The Royal Ballet School | 14 December 1993
Occupation | Ballet dancer |
Career | |
Current group | The Royal Ballet |
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.
Career
External videos | |
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Romeo and Juliet – Balcony Pas de deux (The Royal Ballet), YouTube video | |
The Sleeping Beauty – Bluebird pas de deux (Yasmine Naghdi, Matthew Ball; The Royal Ballet), YouTube video |
Ball joined The Royal Ballet in the 2013/14 season, became a First Artist in 2015,[4] Soloist in 2016[5] and First Soloist in 2017.[6]
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.[1] Ball's performance was given an ovation by the audience and praised in the review by The Times.[7] Ball was promoted to principal dancer in July that year.[1] In December, he took time off from the Royal Ballet for 32 performances as the lead swan in Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at the Sadler's Wells Theatre.[1][8]
He has danced lead roles in ballets such as
In 2020, Ball was featured in the BBC documentary Men at the Barre.[2] Later that year, in the first series of performances since the Royal Opera House's closure due to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic, he and Mayara Magri performed a pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour, having learnt it in five days.[11]
Personal life
As of 2018, Ball lives in Clapham, London.[1]
Selected repertoire
Ball's repertoire with the Royal Ballet includes:[4]
- Solor in La Bayadère
- Basilio in Don Quixote
- Albrecht and pas de six in Giselle
- Prince in The Nutcracker
- Prince Florimund and Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty
- Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake
- Officer in Anastasia
- Lysander in The Dream
- Armand in Marguerite and Armand
- Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling
- Matvei and Beliaev in A Month in the Country
- Romeo in Romeo and Juliet
- Lensky in Onegin
- Young Man in The Two Pigeons
- Escamillo in Carmen
- Aeternum
- Afternoon of a Faun
- Jewels
- Scènes de ballet
- Woolf Works
- Yugen
Created roles
- Albert de Belleroche in Strapless
- The Cellist[12]
- Connectome
- Corybantic Games
- The Illustrated 'Farewell'
- Medusa
- Multiverse
- Obsidian Tear
- The Unknown Soldier
- Untouchable
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Byrne, Emma (4 December 2018). "Royal Ballet principal Matthew Ball: 'I was hungry to do Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake'". Evening Standard.
- ^ a b Winship, Lyndsey (26 May 2020). "One giant leap: meet the new generation of male ballet stars". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c Craine, Debra (6 October 2018). "Swoon! Matthew Ball, the hot young hero at the Royal Ballet". The Times.
- ^ a b "Matthew Ball". Royal Opera House. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
- ^ "Royal Ballet: Promotions and joiners for the 2016/17 season". DanceTabs. 10 June 2016.
- ^ "News – Royal Ballet Promotions, Joiners and Leavers, 2017/18 Season". DanceTabs. 9 July 2017.
- ^ Craine, Debra (2 March 2018). "Dance review: Giselle at Covent Garden". The Times.
- ^ "Matthew Ball on Swan Lake, 'dad dancing' and becoming the Royal Ballet's youngest star". The telegraph. 20 November 2018.
- ^ Mackrell, Judith (16 March 2018). "Royal Ballet: Bernstein Centenary review – McGregor and Wheeldon at the top of their game". The Guardian.
- ^ Winship, Lyndsey (18 February 2020). "The Cellist review – a joyfully giddy tribute to Jacqueline du Pré". The Guardian.
- ^ Parry, Jann (1 July 2020). "Royal Opera House/Royal Ballet – Live from Covent Garden: Third Concert (27 June)". DanceTabs.
- ^ Monahan, Mark (18 February 2020). "The Cellist, Dances at a Gathering, Royal Ballet, review: a heartbreaking love letter to Jacqueline du Pré and the magic of music". The Telegraph.