Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Brings 'New Works' Programme to Sadler's Wells

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is presenting a programme titled New Works at Sadler's Wells in London, according to a review published by The Guardian.

The review states that the programme may be viewed by some as "dated" and acknowledges it is "neither cutting edge nor modishly contemporary." However, it argues the work rests on what it calls "more perennial qualities" that have underpinned the company's appeal, including skill, craft, beauty and humanity.

Among the featured works is Medhi Walerski's Blink of an Eye, a piece new to the Ailey company though originally created in 2011 for Nederlands Dans Theater. According to the review, the work is set to Bach music for solo violin and features eight dancers who repeatedly form visual formations — first a line, later a circle — that dissolve into solos, duets and trios.

The reviewer describes the choreography's counterpointed lines of movement as evoking the music itself, with limbs described as stretching "like strings" and torsos curving "like the body of a violin." The review calls the piece "a rare, spacious and beautiful composition."

The programme also includes Lar Lubovitch's Many Angels and Judith Jamison's A Case of You, both cited in the review as examples of the craft and beauty that characterize the evening.

The Guardian review was published on September 16, 2026, covering the performance at Sadler's Wells.