Ballet world abuzz at British choregrapher's huge gamble

Classical dance manages to get along without too many momentous events shuddering beneath its pointe work. Yesterday it emerged that one of the world's most respected classical choreographers is creating his own transatlantic company and the shudder will have been heard in every major ballet house across the world.

British-born Christopher Wheeldon is to go it alone by setting up a new company using, he hopes, the world's finest dancing talent. Not only that, he wants to break down as many artistic walls as possible and collaborate with leading lights from art forms outside dance to bring in new audiences and create a new excitement.

It is the scale of his ambitions that will delight those with a passion for ballet. Wheeldon admits that he is setting the bar extremely high, taking inspiration from Sergei Diaghilev who caused an artistic sensation when he created Ballets Russes in 1909 - the 20th century's most influential ballet company which included Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky and had collaborations with Stravinsky, Matisse, Picasso and Cocteau.

"You see new companies coming and going all the time and this is a huge gamble," Wheeldon admitted.

His plan is to create a company of 20 "kick-ass" dancers. It will be called Morphoses, named after a dance he created in 2002, and have permanent rehearsal and performance bases at Sadler's Wells in London and in New York.

The permanent company will come in 2008. This year he plans an inaugural season using a roll call of the best dancers in the world as guests. Among the names being mentioned are Darcey Bussell, Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg from the Royal Ballet and from the New York City Ballet Wendy Whelan, Edwaard Liang, Maria Kowroski, Sébastien Marcovici and Sofiane Sylve. It will debut in August at the Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado before appearing in London and New York.

Wheeldon was born in Somerset and trained at the Royal Ballet school but packed his bag for New York at 19. He announced he was quitting his job as resident choreographer at New York City Ballet in November, aged 33, and the ballet world has been waiting for news of his next move. Would he join the Royal Ballet? Would he expand his healthy freelance career? Instead he has chosen to go it alone.

"My friends all think I'm crazy leaving City Ballet. But even though it has been a wonderful home to me, I have found the walls beginning to close in rather than opening out. I need to see what I can do myself."

A new dance company is a relatively rare event and there is only so much money and so many dancers around to make it work.

Wheeldon admitted to yesterday's New York Times that his former City Ballet bosses may be wary of a new company on the block. But he said they understood "this may mean some dancers will decide to come with me. That's just the way life is and the way things go."

He admitted it was still early days, "the hopes and dreams stage", but Wheeldon's stature is such that a lot of people will be lining up to help make it work.

The news was warmly welcomed at Sadler's Wells which will be a long-term partner of the company. Its chief executive and artistic director, Alistair Spalding, said: "I'm delighted to be able to support Christopher Wheeldon's new project this September and the development of the new company in the future.

"At Sadler's Wells we believe in offering artists the chance to create new work in the best possible circumstances and that's what I want to offer Chris. He is a very gifted choreographer and I think this a very brave but wise move that will enable him to achieve his artistic goals."

Wheeldon, the leading purely classical ballet choreographer of his generation, has vowed to give dancers a much bigger creative role, something not always possible in large ballet companies which also have internal politics and bureaucracy ticking away in the background.

"Dancers are amazing, generous people. All they basically want is to put on a good show. But they perform much better when they are inspired," he told the Guardian.

Backstory

Christopher Wheeldon is seen as one of the top choreographers of classical ballet comparable with greats such as Kenneth MacMillan, Frederick Ashton and George Balanchine. Unlike many of his contemparies he has been happy to stay within the parameters of classical ballet. He was born in Somerset and trained at the Royal Ballet School. Aged 19, he became a dancer at the New York City Ballet, giving it up to become the company's resident choreographer at the age of just 28. Although most of his work has been in New York he has choreographed many works in London, including Tryst at the Royal Ballet in 2002. He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre award for outstanding achievement in dance for his choreography of Tryst and New York City's ballet Polyphonia at Sadler's Wells, described by the Guardian's Judith Mackrell as "breathtakingly daring".