Dancer and choreographer Léo Walk talks taste
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My personal style signifier is my long hair. I’ve cut it short and shaved it all off before, but I feel my best when it’s long – it goes well with my dancing. My stylist is Eva Guide at Amour Cheveux Club, in République. I don’t use any special products – just Le Petit Marseillais shampoo. amourcheveuxclub.com
![Walk’s sculpture, artist unknown](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F87f70e1d-9a8f-456b-9616-f8fa519a17c8.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
The last thing I bought and loved was a black sculpture. I went to the flea market in Saint-Ouen, and just as I was leaving, I saw it. The seller told me he picked it up in America years ago but he didn’t know who made it. It’s very heavy, and it reminds me of a big door, one which opens onto another world. It was expensive but I negotiated well – Saint-Ouen is full of enthusiasts, so if you show them that you’re passionate about something, in the end it comes off.
A place that means a lot to me is my best friend Marion Motin’s house in Normandy. Marion is a dancer and choreographer, and she has a house in the middle of the dunes, by the sea, in Agon-Coutainville, where I have been going for quite a few years. It’s often very cold there, with a chill that slaps you in the face. Every time, it re-focuses me and brings me back down-to-earth.
![“The more space there is for dancing, the better I feel,” says Walk](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fea8d125c-f1ec-4dc7-af73-98439b4a30f4.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
The last podcast I listened to was Picasso: Séparer l’homme de l’artiste, an episode from Julie Beauzac’s feminist podcast series. It really upset me. I had no idea the guy was such a monster. It’s a subject I’ve thought about a lot as an artist: the human side versus the arrogant part inside the artist that says, “I have to spit this out, loud and proud – just shut up everyone, and listen to me.” Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I feel like there is a kind of rage inside me. I have friends who try to keep me grounded, but at times they also extinguish a flame of creativity. You have to move mountains to be an artist. It’s not easy.
![Walk’s style icon, John F Kennedy Jr](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F6fe24092-08f7-428e-8c7e-c3a1ee67d414.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
My style icon is John F Kennedy Jr. I like his flow: a bit chic, but poetic and sporty at the same time. He always broke the mould a little bit: he would wear a suit, his shirt a little bit open, a baseball cap worn backwards. He had a lot of charisma.
I have a collection of about 100 stones, kept between my house and my father’s house. I’ve collected them since I was little; I wanted to be an archaeologist as a child. Actually, I feel a bit like an archaeologist in what I do today. I have my bodies – my dancers – and I’m polishing them. I’m looking for things, searching for materials and colours. I still receive a lot of stones as gifts, as my friends and family know I love them – one person gave me a stone from Tahiti in the shape of a shark’s tooth.
The best gift I’ve given is a photograph of all my six aunts for my Portuguese grandmother Mamie Berta. One of my aunts was very ill, so I rounded up all the sisters from all over France, and asked my friend to do a shoot with them. They hadn’t seen each other for ages, and we got a photograph of the whole family together.
![His favourite Nike sneakers](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F8966f7b7-9eab-4ee4-8173-57ef403dee8b.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
![Walk at home in Paris](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fd977759e-52bc-47e2-a089-5fbb20873d2c.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
The last item of clothing I added to my wardrobe was a pair of Nike and Comme des Garçons sneakers I bought in Paris – they’re very cosy.
The best advice I ever received was not personal to me, but it’s a phrase from the German choreographer Pina Bausch, who said: “Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost.” It was something I learned in breakdancing battles when I was young. Lots of people would stand on the side talking and trading insults – it was brutal. The most important thing to do was stop talking and dance.
The last music I downloaded was “#20” by Aphex Twin. Earlier this year I did a one-week residency, staying in a beautiful house in the south of France called La Villa Galaxie. Every morning, I got up and listened to this music in the middle of the forest that surrounds the house. It was like being in a parallel universe. rivieraprod.fr/villa-galaxie
![Mr Freeze ice pops](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F32a846a2-cd63-4632-91c5-8302d12acbea.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
In my fridge you’ll always find coeur de boeuf tomatoes and mozzarella from Carrefour. It’s not stylish, but I don’t have much time for grocery shopping as I’m always working. Those two things go with everything – salad, pasta. I also have Mr Freeze ice pops. They’re the best. Very cheap.
I recently rediscovered New York. The city gave me an early career boost when I was touring with Christine and The Queens, and it opened up a lot of possibilities for me. It’s not a city I’d like to live in, but it has an energy that makes you feel like you can start from nothing and do great things. In France, I feel like there are lots of boxes and labels. In New York, you can be a musician, who owns a clothing label, who makes headphones, who does collaborations – you decide where you’re going in the world. Plus, I love Boom Boom Room at The Standard hotel.
An indulgence I would never forgo is roast chicken, especially from Villa Magnan, a beautiful guesthouse in Biarritz. I would go there just to eat their roast chicken. It’s incredible. A true Sunday roast, cooked in the oven with potatoes. instagram.com/villamagnan
![A painting on ceramic of Walk’s company, La Marche Bleue](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F7a9b348d-e927-4c14-be39-f00789d85f4c.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
![The lapis lazuli stone](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Ffcd23bdf-5977-4d77-8697-3b24b771cb81.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
The best gift I’ve received is a drawing by a friend. I was going through a complicated period, working very hard for my first show at L’Olympia in Paris, and I wasn’t really in contact with my friends. I felt very alone. A friend waited for me at home and gave me this picture, of my dancers against a blue sky.
An object I could never part with is my blue stone, a lapis lazuli I bought in Brussels. It’s a beautiful shape and has sat on my bedside table in my last three apartments. I don’t know why it intrigues me so much, but it makes me feel good.
![Walk is the founder of dance company La Marche Bleue](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Ff2216a3e-d79c-43da-a190-e31d9d856a27.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
My favourite room in my apartment is the living room, because it’s where I dance. I keep my home quite empty and minimalist – the more space there is for dancing, the better I feel. I’ve been practising for my new show, Maison d’en face, opening at the Théâtre du Châtelet in April. I just moved to a new place near Père Lachaise, in the 20th arrondissement, and I have a panoramic view over Paris. I can see the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre! It’s beautiful. chatelet.com
![Terre d’Hermès, £89 for 100ml EDT, hermes.com](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F70edc53b-a132-4852-8708-2c461a7b5d5b.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
The grooming staple I am never without is my bottle of Terre d’Hermès. I’ve worn it since I was a teenager. I bought my first bottle with my pocket money when I was 13 or 14. £89 for 100ml EDT
My favourite building is the French Communist Party headquarters in Paris, designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. I made a video there, Jalousie, with the singer Angèle. I imagined every shot, every sequence, from the choreography to the styling. The design of the building is fabulous – period but futuristic at the same time. I also love the colour green and I’m obsessed with the green carpet under the dome. espace-niemeyer.fr
![Walk recently moved to the 20th arrondissement](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F984f122a-8c19-4973-a63f-1524acef1544.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
I have two favourite apps, the first is the Radiooooo app, where you can listen to music from all over the world and from any decade after 1900. I like to discover lots of different songs I didn’t know about before – for example, Nigerian music from the 1940s. And my second is Uber Eats. I love cooking but I never have time, so I usually order Vietnamese from Paris Hanoi near my apartment. I can’t eat anything too greasy, because the next day in rehearsal it sticks in my stomach and I can’t dance. radiooooo.com
The work of art that changed my life doesn’t exist. For me, it’s the human connections that have changed my life. [Hip-hop dancer] Thony Maskot taught me a lot about dance. And then my friend Marion introduced me to Christine and The Queens, which was my first proper job.
![Je Dors, Je Travaille, by sculptor Valentine Schlegel](https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.brunel.ac.uk/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F061d155c-effe-4645-b0bb-52567bddc881.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
The best book I’ve read in the past year is an art book about Valentine Schlegel, the French sculptor and ceramicist. I don’t read novels – I have ADHD, and I can’t manage with my concentration – but I read lots of art books. Schlegel worked with white, soothing curves; what I love about her work is that it’s minimalist but it’s also very soft and warm. I was inspired by her for my set design, and I wanted to work with her on a project with Lacoste, but then my assistant tried to contact her and we realised she was no longer alive! So we ended up working with a friend of mine, the French artist Garance Vallée, who takes a lot of inspiration from Brancusi.
Some of my best ideas come from letting go. I’m very anxious, so it happens very rarely. And suddenly, when I am very emotionally charged and I let go – it really works. Whether it’s a little video on Instagram or a big project, that’s what gives me inspiration.
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