There is no denying Wayne McGregor's ability to conjure the most fascinating dance territories. We have seen him do it time and again, most notably with Chroma, which he made for the Royal Ballet in 2006 and was such a success that it won him a job as the resident choreographer at Covent Garden. And we see it again with Entity, McGregor's new touring production for his own troupe, Random Dance, which is resident at Sadler's Wells.

These days, any McGregor world premiere carries with it enormous expectation and a healthy dose of scientific research. As an artist long in thrall to science, McGregor has used his dances to explore what he calls “the technology of the body”. Recently he has become absorbed in research into non-verbal intelligence, into how the brain and the body talk to each other. Entity is the result of his consultations with cognitive scientists, though you don't need to know that to appreciate its linked halves.

Like all of McGregor's work, Entity starts with an idea and then finds the music to service it. The first half has music by Joby Talbot, who wrote the wondrous score for Chroma. Here his composition (performed live by the Navarra Quartet) is a bubbling brew of alien chants and dreamy reflections. The second half features recorded music by Jon Hopkins, a commissioned score that veers between lush prog-rock and mindless trance.

Having set up his aural landscape, McGregor is then free to indulge in his trademark style, which is as disjointed as it is hyperactive. He twists dancers' torsos as if they were corkscrews, he forces their smooth articulation into uncomfortable shapes and wrestles with their natural instincts. Bodies can be anything in the McGregor universe, except symmetrical. They squirm, they fidget and they never stop moving.

The effect is strange and, more often than not, compelling, though for me Entity is, in the end, oddly uninvolving. When couples dance they do so with no emotional investment in their moves. What we have witnessed may be an apocalypse, but it has happened without human consequence. Running at just over an hour, it's a long time to ask us to forgo all sentiment, even if the ten dancers are a terrific bunch who do their best to mellow McGregor's overly cerebral writing. As always, Lucy Carter supplies gorgeous lighting, along with projected geometrical floor patterns. Patrick Burnier's designs are simple and very clean- cut, while Ravi Deepres provides digital video design that suggests things under a microscope. Entity now tours for the rest of the year, with the Wycombe Swan and Nottingham Playhouse up next.

Editor's choice

• U2 at Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona
• The 50 Best Movie Villains
• The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette