American beauty

Soul, energy, joy - the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has made exhilaration its calling-card for almost 50 years. Founded in the dark days of black oppression in 1958, Ailey's group rapidly became a flagship for dancers shunned by 'white' companies, and they turned the infectious passions of Gospel and black jazz into very much their personal territory for their choreography. Physically impressive, emotionally uninhibited, bursting with personality, the ensemble's dancers are a tonic whatever they perform, and their Sadler's Wells visit promises an abundance of goodies. Three programmes in a fortnight display a huge variety ranging from famous white choreographers Twyla Tharp and Maurice Bejart, to Duke Ellington creations, to the late Mr Ailey's celebrated classics - above all, his irresistible global hit Revelations, which would surely make a temporary believer of the Devil himself.

Ismene Brown