There are some great dancers in the Alvin Ailey troupe, and little beats the simple pleasure of watching them soar across the stage. The men leap with a dazzling, throwaway vigour, closely followed by the women who combine exuberance and elegance with what used to be called sass. They're not quite ballet dancers or show dancers but somewhere between the two, with Broadway pizzazz mixed with jazz and gospel and soul.

It is not challenging, and hardly cutting edge, but who cares when Jamar Roberts, Clifton Brown and Kirven J Boyd blast through Sinner Man, or Amos Machanic moves to I Wanna Be Ready. These are two of the 10 spirituals in Revelations (sadly not sung live), Alvin Ailey's signature work that closed the first programme of three spread over a two-week visit.

Made in 1960, Revelations celebrates Ailey's African-American heritage, his "blood memories", as he put it, "sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful." In our cynical times, Revelations has an innocence that tugs at your heart. The song Fix Me, Jesus seems an impossible hope. It also has almost impossible choreography, with tricky moves that the dancers perform with stylish ease.

The same goes for Pas de Duke, a glorious duet for Linda Celeste Sims and Matthew Rushing set to Duke Ellington. All is a wonderful courtship, his leaps like mating calls, her shimmies like quivvers. Sims is sensational, somehow sharp and languorous at the same time, a prowling cat and a fluttering songbird. She's easily the star, although with so many knock-out dancers, the competition is fierce.

The only "but" with the Ailey troupe is that the dancers are a little too respectful of their heritage, and this prevents them from making the ballets their own. You sense them thinking: "Is this what Ailey wanted?"

This deferential dancing holds them back, and also emphasises the era in which the ballets were made. In Night Creature, for instance, the dancers were as ring-ding as you'd expect, but their dutiful approach meant all you noticed were the Seventies turban-esque headbands.

• Prog 1 (Homage to Alvin Ailey), Prog 2 (Best of Ailey) and Prog 3 (Jazz) in rep until 15 September (0844 412 4300. www.sadlerswells.com).