Together with Western Union and the Western Union Foundation, we are sharing real stories of refugees to help breakdown the misconceptions that surround them. We’re all humans and neighbours, no matter our background. Dam Van Huynh is an award-winning dancer and choreographer with his own company in East London. His contemporary dance projects and movement operas have toured the planet, and he now teaches workshops to budding dancers. He’s lived in Britain for almost two decades.

All my works begin with the artist and my self within the space. I believe a work already exists within a space between the collaborators. My job is to pull everything out into the open, then remove the elements that don't belong. Whatever is left, regardless of whether I feel it is good or not, must be the honest reveal of where each collaborating artist is in their lives.

I think for me, the idea of being a choreographer always started with a question – a why has she/he done that? I never had the notion in my head that as a dancer I would end up as a choreographer, it just happened through working with many different choreographers. I always questioned why and how choreographers worked and then one day, the questions of why and how overshadowed the activity and I decided to take some time to explore the answers.

The choreographer Dam Van Huynh is an Associate Artist for Dance United and recently returned from a two-year residency at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Here the dancer-turned-teacher-turned-choreographer talks about how to set up your own company and why being a director is a little like being a therapist...

Dam Van Huynh's choreographic language speaks of a clear physical elegance. Yet underlying this focused physicality is an energy that is powerful, sometimes bordering on frenetic. [Black Square], the work that he will be featuring at this year's M1 Fringe Festival, displays these urgent characteristics.

When I was 14 my best friend had enrolled in a dancing course. And whenever he was taking classes, which were generally most of the day on Saturdays, I was short a best friend. He convinced me to join his classes and with very little interest in dance itself, I decided to join mainly because I did not wish to be bored by myself on Saturdays. Fortunately, my very first dance teacher was so encouraging and inspiring, I took to dance immediately. I have been dancing ever since.