‘He caught what I thought was impossible’: Danny Boyle, Hanif Kureishi and others on the genius of Akram Khan

‘His precision was really inspiring to watch’

Nitin Sawhney, composer, collaborated on multiple projects with Khan, including Kaash (2002), Zero Degrees (2005) and Vertical Road (2010)

View image in fullscreen ‘How could we make that work’ … The National Youth Dance Company performing Khan’s Vertical Road at Sadler’s Wells in 2014. Photograph: Danilo Moroni/Alamy

I think I saw Akram first at the Bhavan Centre in London when he was about 16. He moved like lightning. His speed was incredible but his precision as well was really inspiring to watch. He approached me in the late 90s to work on a project called Fix and then I continued to work with him on many, many other projects. The tabla player in my band ended up marrying Akram’s sister.

Not only have I written music for him, I’ve performed on stage with him, in Confluence in 2009. We were over in Holland one time, due to perform, and Akram turned up on crutches with an injury, but still found a way to get through the whole thing. And was brilliant. He was using them to do twirls and things like that.

He’s got a really good sense of humour, but is able to encapsulate very profound concepts, trying to represent through movement a sense of the struggle for the meaning of humanity.

When I did Vertical Road with him, I’d just had pneumonia and the only time he was available to meet in my studio was 1am, so neither of us were in the best of moods. We were sitting there pissed off about everything and grunting at each other, and he said that for the music he wanted just a constant banging for the first five