Dancer art: Akram Khan's "extraordinary" drawing of him in action

Akram Khan – one of the biggest names on the international dance circuit – has spoken of an “extraordinary” drawing of him in action which he says has “depth in its layering”.

Mr Kahn said of my artwork which interprets his dance using a number of video stills:

“I picked up a book in Canada while I was sitting in the green room and it happened to be a book about film and dance on film. I opened a page randomly and there was Gene Kelly’s words which somehow described the idea that dance on stage is 3D and dance on film is 2D. It’s like a sculpture. Sculpture is 3D, painting is 2D. But what’s extraordinary about Stella’s work was I found it to be quite 3D. It had depth in its layering and that for me was extraordinary.”

Akram Khan dancer performing pencil on paper artwork by Stella Tooth.

Dancer Akram Khan is also a producer, artistic director and choreographer. He created a prominent section of Danny Boyle’s London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony.

His latest work ‘Until the Lions’, a partial adaptation in Kathak and contemporary dance of poet Karthika Naïr’s book Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata, is showing at the Brighton Festival from 25-26 May 2016. More information: Akram Khan Company