The choreographer Christopher Wheeldon watched from the sidelines of a City Center studio recently as Maria Kowroski and Edwaard Liang negotiated a tortuous pas de deux in his new piece “Fools’ Paradise,” set to a score by the young English composer Joby Talbot. On one leg, Ms. Kowroski supported Mr. Liang while he leaned back, spreading his arms like wings. Slowly, she moved away, giving him enough space to arch his back and twist down to the floor. Without a word, Mr. Wheeldon stepped between them and took over Mr. Liang’s role, demonstrating how much more slowly he wanted the movement.

“Don’t rush it,” he said, curving his hand around Ms. Kowroski’s head as she kneeled before him, employing one of the heart-stopping gestures that give his works such resonance. “Make sure I see that shape,” Mr. Wheeldon told Mr. Liang as Mr. Liang tried the sequence again. “Yeah, that’s nice.”

Blond, boyishly handsome, and English-born, the 34-year-old Mr. Wheeldon is the cause célèbre of the dance world. He began his choreographic career while a 19-year-old dancer at New York City Ballet, when he impressed audiences with his pieces for the company, winning comparisons to George Balanchine. And he lost no momentum as he continued to create estimable pieces for NYCB and other top troupes.

Now, stepping it up a notch, he has established his own company, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, a noteworthy feat in this period of drastically reduced arts funding. “I was ready to go for it,” Mr. Wheeldon said, unfazed and charmingly modest. “I haven’t had any second thoughts. I’d rather fail than never try and always wonder what would have happened.”

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company makes its debut at City Center beginning October 17 in a highly anticipated engagement featuring two programs, a live orchestra, and an array of international ballet stars including NYCB’s Wendy Whelan, Ms. Kowroski, and Ashley Bouder, San Francisco Ballet’s Gonzalo García, and former NYCB soloist Mr. Liang, the Royal Ballet’s Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope, Bolshoi principal Anastasia Yatsenko, and Britain’s Ballet Boyz Michael Nunn and William Trevitt.

“These kinds of dancers can help me demystify the art form and show people that it’s not just swan queens and princes and princesses,” Mr. Wheeldon said. “They’re young, sexy, and interesting, and of course, superb ballet dancers.”

Many of the dancers participating in the first stage of Mr. Wheeldon’s endeavor took breaks from their companies in order to do so, and when Mr. Wheeldon holds auditions to replace them in January, there will no doubt be a rush to join him.

All this indicates the great allure of fresh blood in the ballet world, which thirsts for a classical ballet company with a fresh perspective. That allure also attracted City Center, which offered him a home base.

“We believe in what Chris is trying to do,” the president of City Center, Arlene Shuler, said. “He’s one of the most talented and exciting choreographers of his generation. He’s breaking down barriers in dance and attracting younger audiences. The City Center gave the New York City Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet their first homes. We’re happy to do the same for him. There’s room for another voice in ballet.”

Mr. Wheeldon also won the support of Sadler’s Wells in London and Colorado’s Vail International Festival, which have joined the City Center in making a threeyear commitment to his company. Equally important, a former principal dancer with NYCB, Lourdes Lopez, agreed to take on the job of executive director. Ms. Lopez, also a former executive director of the Balanchine Trust, brings the crucial organizational skills to the start up of a new company. “I’ve known Chris since he first joined City Ballet,” she said. Ms. Lopez recalled her first encounter with Mr. Wheeldon’s material. “He choreographed a ballet for the School of American Ballet’s graduation class. It was astounding,” she said. “I walked out and called my fiancé and said, I’ve just witnessed a work by the next great choreographer.'”

In his years with the New York City Ballet as resident choreographer, which he joined as a dancer in 1993 after training at the Royal Ballet School, Mr. Wheeldon became especially well known for the ballets that he created for principal dancer Wendy Whelan, who continues to work by Mr. Wheeldon’s side. “He’s good for dancers,” Ms. Whelan said. “He’s very democratic and relaxed in the studio. If we don’t quite execute a step the way he wants it, he’ll let us follow what’s best for us.”

That attitude bodes well for the future of Mr. Wheeldon’s troupe, a fact not overlooked by Ms. Lopez. “He likes to nurture dancers. That’s crucial to a company. It will be interesting to see what he makes of young 16- and 17-year old ballerinas.”

Dancer Michael Dunn has known Mr. Wheeldon since they were students at the Royal Ballet School. “Chris’s outstanding ability is his skill at building relationships with dancers and other artists,” he said. “He gets to the point quickly and knows how to communicate. We’d been talking about his establishing a new company for a long while. It’s the only way to move ballet forward.”

Though his ambitions are large, Mr. Wheeldon stays focused on the day to day. “Yes, it will be hard,” he said of developing his company. “But I’ve always been hyperactive and eager to push myself to the next step. I’m pretty fearless — you might say foolhardy,” he said. “I have to be hungry. Sure, there are naysayers but I’m getting better at ignoring them. There’s work to do.”