The reviews are in for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: New Works, the first of two programmes the company brought to Sadler’s Wells this month and its first London season under artistic director Alicia Graf Mack. The bill pairs new and recent commissions — Medhi Walerski’s Blink of an Eye, Jamar Roberts’ Song of the Anchorite, Lar Lubovitch’s Many Angels and Judith Jamison’s A Case of You — before the company’s signature Revelations. Critics are united on the dancing; the new work divides them rather more.
The verdict: five notices for the New Works bill — one five-star, three four-star and one outlet that publishes no rating — averaging 4.25 out of 5 across the four that score it. There is no dissent to report: every critic rates the dancing extraordinary and Alvin Ailey’s 1960 closer Revelations irresistible. Where they differ is on the new commissions themselves, and on whether the programme is adventurous or merely handsome.
What are critics saying about Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: New Works?
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Stephanie Osztreicher
“The dancers demonstrate elite dance, showing not only extraordinary technique but embodying a spirit so strong it is almost overpowering. Across the four contemporary works, ending with the Ailey staple Revelations, signature Ailey style is captured while each choreographer brings a distinct individuality to the programme. This is an ensemble with a legacy carried in every move.”
Read Stephanie Osztreicher’s full review at West End Best Friend
The Guardian
“a heavenly night”
Reviewer: Sanjoy Roy
“The Alvin Ailey company’s New Works programme might be seen in some circles as dated, and it’s true that it is neither cutting edge nor modishly contemporary. Yet it rests on more perennial qualities that underpin the company’s enduring appeal: skill, craft, beauty and humanity, and beneath them an artistic aim that can reach up towards the sublime, out towards the world, or in towards the heart.”
Bachtrack
“a tremendous evening of new works”
Reviewer: Maggie Foyer
“The new director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Alicia Graf Mack, brings her company to Sadler’s Wells with a programme of New Works delivered with the emotional drive we expect from this iconic company. Mack has enjoyed an outstanding career both as performer and director and is a perfect fit for the company that respects its roots like no other.”
Gramilano
Reviewer: Graham Watts
“The contrast between the first and last piece on this programme could not have been greater. Where Revelations has a strong case to be proclaimed the greatest curtain closer ever, guaranteed to make an audience feel uplifted, Medhi Walerski’s Blink of an Eye was frothy modern dance of no great consequence. There was nothing to dislike, but the stated theme of the ‘fragile boundary between presence and absence’ was not the stuff to heighten emotion.”
Also reviewed by: The Stage (Siobhan Murphy, “Breathtaking”, four stars), whose review sits behind a paywall.
Production photographs by Paul Kolnik.
More opening-night verdicts in our recent review roundups, and the rest of the week’s stories across Best of Theatre News.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater played New Works at Sadler’s Wells from 15 September, with the company’s Legacy programme following in the same season.
