Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sadler’s Wells, review: ‘A wonderful richness to the way they move’

Founded by Ailey in 1958, the company became the most high-profile and influential African-American modern dance ensemble, mixing modern and contemporary styles with roots in black culture

Elegiac: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Akua Noni Parker and Jamar Roberts in Christopher Wheeldon's After The Rain pas de deux (Paul Kolnik)

Alvin Ailey’s dancers are sumptuous. There’s a wonderful richness to the way they move: grand scale and velvety softness, shared conviction and plenty of individual personality. For its first UK tour since 2010, the company is in fine shape.

Founded by Ailey in 1958, the company quickly became the most high-profile and influential African-American modern dance ensemble, mixing modern and contemporary styles with roots in black culture. It’s long since reached national treasure status. Moving on from Ailey, who died in 1989, has been challenging, but this opening programme shows a confident range of works, in styles from ballet to hip hop.

Rennie Harris’s “Exodus” starts with dancers in street clothes and despair. Gradually, they build into a community, returning in long white robes. The pacing is uneven, but Harris’s hip hop blend is juicy, with explosive precision to the footwork and fluid weight to the upper bodies.

Ronald K Brown’s “Four Corners” draws on African dance, with flowing lines breaking into joyful shimmies and soloists bursting out from gleeful unison dances. Torsos ripple and pump, catching irresistible rhythms.

Christopher Wheeldon’s elegiac “After the Rain” pas de deux has become a modern ballet staple. Akua Noni Parker and Jamar Roberts dance it proudly on their own terms – they’re intense rather than wistful. I loved Parker’s muscular power in the ballerina role, with Roberts a devoted partner, letting her soar.

Like every performance on this tour, the show ends with Ailey’s “Revelations” – not just his biggest hit, but his company’s core identity. You can see both the fine modern training and the openness to other styles in Revelations, danced to African-American religious music. It goes from personal spiritual drama to an image of a community.

In “I want to be ready”, Yannick Lebrun wrestles with his soul. His body tips back from the knees, thighs and torso in one taut line. He twists to save himself from falling, then rises back up. Every bend, every bold shape shows the downward pull of gravity, the resistance and faith of a body striving upwards.

“Fix Me Jesus” is a duet of support and trust. Linda Celeste Sims learns to fall into Glenn Allen Sims’s arms until at last she soars.

A scene of women fanning themselves, gathering and regathering, suggests a church social in baking heat. In “Wade in the Water”, Rachael McLaren and Vernard J. Gilmore stride through waves of fabric, conviction in the lush depth of each step.

Until 17 September. Box office 020 7863 8000. Touring until 19 October. Tour dates from http://www.danceconsortium.com/