THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Roseberry Avenue, London, September 15 to 19, 2026
Alvin Ailey’s welcome return to London comprised two programmes – Legacy Works and, on opening night, New Works, which showcased some of the most respected contemporary choreographers with a decidedly introspective or spiritual focus.
It opened with Medhi Walerski’s ‘Blink of an Eye’ (he’s Artistic Director of Ballet British Columbia) in which the technical brilliance and emotional range of these dancers just inhabited the timeless beauty of a Bach violin partita and sonata.
Next was Jamar Roberts’ meditative ‘Song of the Anchorite’, which built on another 1961 piece by Ailey inspired by medieval religious texts. The striking Yannick Lebrun managed to embody the meditative passion of both Eastern and Western monasticism, but this time set to a very earthy score – an interpretation by jazz composer Avishai Cohen of a Ravel adagio. The sacred and the profane mingling perfectly.
Next up was a bit of heaven, ‘Many Angels’, octogenarian choreographer Lar Lubovitch’s take on Mahler’s infamous Adagietto from his Symphony No 5. (yes the one in ‘Death in Venice’). Staged in front of a vista of fluffy clouds, a powerful quintet of dancers created some exquisitely sculpted tableaux, again showcasing that mixture of technical skill and sheer muscle, married to a tender musicality.
The dreamy sensuality then went into overdrive with Caroline T Dartey and Christopher Taylor giving us an emotionally intense duo danced to Diana Krall’s sultry rendition of the classic Joni Mitchell song ‘A Case of You’. This was choreographed by the legendary Judith Jamison (who took over the company from Ailey) as part of her 2004 piece ‘Reminiscin’’. While this rightly brought the house down, it does beg that nagging question about great iconic pieces of music which can be ‘too big’ for choreographers to tackle. Is there too much baggage? How much of the emotion here was Joni, how much Judith, and how much the dancers?
The programme concluded, as the company always does, with Ailey’s eternal ‘Revelations’, created in 1960, and borne, he said, out of ‘blood memories’ of his childhood in rural Texas. Set to some of the most stirring Spirituals, it follows a journey from sorrow to joy. Within the piece there is incredible variety which is perhaps the key to its eternal appeal. Moods range from the angst of Sarah Daley-Perdomo and Yannick Lebrun dancing an anguished duo to ‘Fix Me Jesus’, to ‘Take Me to the Water’, the unforgettable sight of a Baptist procession, all dressed in pristine white, rippling across the stage with their parasols and flags billowing in the breeze. There’s a wonderful hip swagger, too, in the later numbers which is pure Ailey – fusing the classical with the vernacular as only he could do. The evening ended with the joyously rousing company number ‘Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham’ which can only end in a singalong reprise.
The second programme ‘Legacy’ comprises the pieces ‘Night Creature’, ‘A Song for You’, ‘Cry’, ‘Grace’ and of course ‘Revelations.
Not to be missed.
