The legendary American choreographer Alvin Ailey, who died in 1989, always shared a stage with his peers. So it follows that his American Dance Theater have chosen to showcase classic Ailey legacy repertoire alongside the pieces of two contemporary choreographers: one creating bang-up-to-date work, the other a veteran of modern American dance.

The programme is split over two evenings, allowing those of us lucky enough to see both to appreciate the breadth of Ailey’s work, while also tasting pieces that share his spirit. Programme 1 takes us to a place of jazz and ballet fusion, fouettés and shimmies, in Twyla Tharp’s ‘Roy’s Joys.’ Tharp’s piece was created in 1997 and has the feel of being pleasingly experimental for the time, while also revelling in the pure joy of music and movement. To a score of big-band swing, the company slip in and out of sultry duets, Broadway formations and solos, all the while mixing poise with flair.

Kyle Abraham’s ‘Are You In Your Feelings?’ is a similar melting pot of styles, hip-hop body waves, r’n’b looseness with classical precision. Celebrating Black love in all its forms, Abraham draws us in with micro-stories: groups of boys watch pairs of girls walk by; two women dance in separate spotlights while a song about loving the same man plays; the phenomenal Ashley Kaylynn Green leads a group in harmonised pack isolations. Karen Young’s costumes are so beautifully textured, in floating neon silk and gossamer, you can practically feel them on your own skin as they move with the dancers. It’s a gorgeous, sensual piece.

In Programme 2, ‘Memoria’ is Ailey’s tribute to his friend, dancer Joyce Trisler who died aged 45. Sarah Daley-Perdomo dances in the spirit of Trisler, first dressed in ice blue in a eulogy of graceful arms and drawn-out arabesques, then triumphant in red, her movements spiced with Latin swagger. Ailey’s gift for creating beauty from patterns of moving bodies is embodied by this piece, particularly when the cast are joined by a corps of local dancers whose tight unity brings a euphoric energy to the later scenes.

The second Ailey piece of the evening, ‘The River’, was scored by Duke Ellington, and commissioned by Ailey in 1970; but this is not Ellington as you know him, all jazzy and louche. The music is full of cinematic drama, soaked in emotion, and goes to show the scope and breadth Ailey’s vision inspired in other artists. The choreography, riffing on the texture and motion of water, similarly brings a human touch to abstraction, with its mixture of clean rippling lines and soulful intimacy.

But the piece that has achieved iconic status is Ailey’s ‘Revelations’, and two nights in a row it lives up to its revered reputation. Short, spiritual vignettes are set to gospel songs, which evolve through patterns of grounded, figurative movement (spread arms suggest both angel wings and Christ; a woman’s lying body is pulled up by an invisible force) to an ecstatic finale which pays tribute to the traditions of Black culture in the American south where Ailey was born. A duet to Fix Me, Jesus is the highlight in an exquisite piece. A female dancer lets her shoulders rest in the cradle of a man’s arms or is held above his body to swim and float. Ailey shows how sensuality and spirituality do not have to be two separate things but can entwine to sublime effect.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater reviewed at Festival Theatre as part of Edinburgh International Festival; the company performs at Sadler’s Wells, London, 5–16 September.