Raised on VHS rewinds and living-room premieres (with a very patient mother as his very first audience), MORGAN LUGO has been consumed by the artistry and emotional richness of dance ever since he can remember. Equal parts introspective and instinctive, the Paris-based dancer and movement director tells us about moments that shaped him: from childhood obsessions to the kind of nights that barely make a sound but leave a lasting mark. There’s no bravado here, just a creator chasing something harder to pin down. Call it freedom.

The first time I discovered the power of dance as an art form…

When I was about seven, my father gave me a VHS of West Side Story. I would replay it endlessly, trying to reinterpret the dances in my living room. Somewhere in that, I remember realising that dance could feel like film – that it could carry a story and make you disappear for a moment.

The first choreography I learned…

Does learning Thriller from the television count?

A performer whom I look up to…

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Known more for his choreography now, but when he performs, it’s a complete embodiment – a kind of quiet, unforced presence that draws you in.

The song I know by heart…

Hyper-ballad by Björk. It’s one of those songs that feels almost physical to me… something I’ve lived inside for a long time. I made my first choreography to it [Laughs], an interpretive solo in my parents’ living room, insisting my mother sit and watch.

The best music to stretch to...

Oh gosh. I am definitely not consistent. And my taste in music is all over the map. It could be Cleo Sol one day, Steve Reich the next. Whatever the body wants.

I love to look at the images of…

I think I’m most drawn to images that reveal what resists being seen – portraits where the subject feels almost unwilling, like something is being held back or slipping through. There’s a tension there I can’t look away from. And then on the other end, images that feel suspended in motion… where even in stillness, the body is carrying momentum, like it could break into movement at any second.

The most stylish dancer of all time is…

Fosse. Completely singular.

My most recent obsession…

The feeling of being free. It’s hard to catch.

The most intense night out of my life so far…

The most intense nights for me are actually very quiet. Just moments where you feel slightly untethered – like you could disappear a little. Nothing dramatic, but those are the ones that linger.

I’m super sensitive to…

Music. It can change everything in a matter of seconds.

A performance I always go back to…

Le Sacre du Printemps by Pina Bausch. I performed it. It was everything. The only time I’ve ever been moved to tears on stage.

I would love to collaborate with…

People who have built their own world. Where the work places something in you immediately, and you don’t really have a choice in how you feel about it. Paul Thomas Anderson, if we’re manifesting.