Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater opened at Sadler's Wells in London this month with two programmes that pair new works with the repertory the company has carried since Alvin Ailey founded it in 1958. The run closes on 19 September.

Photographs by Tristram Kenton, published by the Guardian on 17 September 2026, document the company in rehearsal and performance across both programmes.

At the centre of the New Works programme stands Many Angels, choreographed by Lar Lubovitch and set to Mahler's Symphony No 5. It is one of three UK premieres in that programme. Dancers Yannick Lebrun, Jacquelin Harris, Isaiah Day and Jesse Obremski appear in Kenton's images of the piece, which the Guardian's review, published 16 September, described as part of a "heavenly" night of new works.

The second revival drawing attention is A Case of You, a 2004 duet by former artistic director Judith Jamison. The work features Diana Krall's cover of the Joni Mitchell song that gives the piece its title. Current artistic director Alicia Graf Mack rehearsed the duet with dancers Caroline T Dartey and Christopher Taylor ahead of the London opening.

The legacy programme anchors itself in Revelations, the company's signature work, which premiered in 1960. Kenton photographs Jacquelin Harris and Renaldo Maurice in the piece, with Miranda Quinn at the centre of an ensemble scene. The programme also includes Ailey's Night Creature, set to Duke Ellington's music, with Sarah Daley-Perdomo and Solomon Dumas pictured in leading roles.

The Guardian's gallery captions call the company "always revelatory," noting that the Sadler's Wells engagement celebrates the troupe's legacy while introducing the new works to British audiences.

The engagement follows a pattern of London appearances for the company, which the Guardian has reviewed at Sadler's Wells in previous seasons, including a 2023 visit the paper called "extraordinary, soul-stirring dance." With the run ending 19 September, the three UK premieres mark the company's most substantial presentation of new choreography to a London audience in several years.