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Dance

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sadler’s Wells

06 Sep 16 – 17 Sep 16, Times vary, check programme for details

Alvin Ailey tour London: the game-changing US dance company returns to the UK after a six-year break, with a programme for every taste

By CW Contributor on 1/6/2016

1 CW reader is interested
Alvin Ailey London 2016: image courtesy of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Alvin Ailey London 2016: image courtesy of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sadler’s Wells Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sadler’s Wells Ruth Mattock
Growing up at the height of US racial segregation instilled in choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey a fierce pride in African American culture. His own company, created in 1958 to give black dancers a platform and prove they too could represent America, brought dance and jazz together in the concert hall.


Half a century later, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one of the finest contemporary companies in the US. Training in ballet and jazz as well as African American styles, these are powerful, and powerfully expressive, dancers.


In fact if there’s been quiet criticism of recent tours, it’s been that the dancers outclass the repertory. But new director Robert Battle is busily adding new works, so the Alvin Ailey London tour includes more than a few UK premieres.


Offering four varied programmes, each will close with Ailey’s own Revelations, a rich exploration of joy and sorrow in the soul via gospel and holy blues, and the most widely seen work of contemporary dance in the world.


In Programme A, we’ll be looking out for Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain. A light-as-air duet originally created for New York City Ballet, we can’t wait to see how it looks on the versatile Alvin Ailey dancers.


Just to emphasise that versatility, Programme A also brings Rennie Harris’ spiritual hip hop work Exodus.


Paul Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera reworks the sensual tango spirit for modern dance in Programme B.


Aszure Barton, who recently choreographed for English National Ballet’s She Said programme, has designed LIFT with the full company, which will show alongside Battle’s exuberant Awakening and Ailey’s 1971 classic solo Cry, created as a birthday present for his mother, in Programme C.


Programme D is a schools matinee featuring an excerpt from Night Creature.


This is a rare opportunity to see a company that changed the history of American dance, and no Londoner should miss out.




You can also catch the Alvin Ailey dancers in the Royal Ballet's triple bill devoted to Wayne McGregor, here.


What Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sadler’s Wells
Where Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TN | MAP
Nearest tube Angel (underground)
When 06 Sep 16 – 17 Sep 16, Times vary, check programme for details
Price £12-45
Website Click here to book via the Sadler's Wells website



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  • Alvin Ailey

    Ailey performed in films and on stage, and even had a nightclub act with Maya Angelou. His company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, has won countless awards, and he was himself posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal for Freedom by Barack Obama in 2014.

    In his own words:

    “What I like is the line and technical range that classical ballet gives to the body. But I still want to project to the audience the expressiveness that only modern dance offers, especially for the inner kinds of things.”

    Programme A

    Exodus / Four Corners / After the Rain / Revelations 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 September

    Programme B

    Open Door / Piazzolla Caldera / Revelations
    Wed 7, Fri 9, Sat 10, Thu 15 at 7.30pm, Sat 17 at 2.30pm

    Programme C

    Lift / Awakening / Cry / Revelations
    Tue 13 & Fri 16 at 7.30pm, Sat 10 at 2.30pm

    Programme D

    Schools Matinee. Night Creatures excerpt / Revelations and narration by a dancer
    Thu 15 at 1.30pm

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Sadler's Wells 2016

Alvin Ailey

US Dance

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