Choreographer Nicholas Leichter, whose new work, “Spanish Wells,” will have its premiere at Dance Theater Workshop on Wednesday, is bringing new meaning to a catchphrase. “To say ‘melting pot’ is not enough,” Mr. Leichter said in between rehearsals for “Spanish Wells,” which draws on influences from an array of sources — Creole, Spanish, the nostalgia of the ’50s and ’60s — and is set to music by both Claude Debussy and Amy Winehouse. “I’m trying to mix these flavors, contrast them,” he said.

Mr. Leichter, who is the son of African-American and Jewish parents, runs Nicholas Leichter Dance, which includes dancers of African, Filipino, Norwegian, and Native American heritage. And Mr. Leichter’s choreographic style itself is a hybrid that reflects many strands seen in New York — modern, club, jazz, African. With New York’s variety of ethnicities and cultural influences, Mr. Leichter wondered, “Would it be possible to start from the beginning again, with all the information that we have, and create this new world where we are dialoguing?”

He found the answer in “Spanish Wells.” The work takes its name from the spot in the Bahamas that once served as the last stop to tank up on fresh water for Spanish galleons returning to Europe; latter-day New York City is somewhat comparable to Spanish Wells as a first or last stop for far-flung travelers to America.

The 40-minute piece alternates segments of Debussy’s “La Mer” with Winehouse tunes. In a recent rehearsal, the dancers’ sinuous rhythms in the passages to Debussy were not immediately obvious, but emerged as the repeated movements delineated them. In contrast, the strong beats in Winehouse’s bluesy songs provide a clear rhythmic structure. But, Mr. Leichter said, “the whole point of bringing Winehouse into the mix was more conceptual than musical.”

“The lyrics are so wrong — they’re totally politically incorrect. They’re nasty, they’re raunchy, they’re talking about hip-hop,” he said of Ms. Winehouse’s songs, including “Me and Mr. Jones.” “Here’s this white woman who has had a lot of public troubles, so she comes from this really raw place, and identifies with this very black and traditionally African-American style of music, but she brings her own kind of punk flavor to it.”

Over the course of his career, Mr. Leichter has choreographed to a variety of compositions such as Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” (both with the Brooklyn Philharmonic), the latter of which will be performed at Dance Theater Workshop as well. “It’s my job to be able to find the soul in these scores,” Mr. Leichter said. “They’re there, you just have to find them. Debussy was the hardest. I don’t know if it’s because Stravinsky’s music has been used so much for dance, but it just tells you what to do. You do it, and move on.”

In the course of his research, Mr. Leichter discovered that Debussy himself was a bit of a rebel; he had an affair and behaved erratically. “You can kind of hear it in the drama of the music. He was passionate about all these different cultures, and he understood that kind of gateway that the Atlantic Ocean had to all these different islands and countries,” Mr. Leichter said. Like the sea, “La Mer” builds, swells, and crashes at a sometimes impressive volume.

Also on the program is a new solo, “Love Letter” (to Ms. Winehouse’s song, “Valerie”) danced by the choreographer. “I want people to walk away learning that being a dance performer is the most powerful thing in the world,” Mr. Leichter said of the work. “I felt like it’s important to remind ourselves and give that thing back — a kind of thank-you.”