This is its third annual season at Sadler’s Wells, and it’s time for Christopher Wheeldon’s transatlantic ballet company to prove itself. Morphoses, which has homes in London and New York, was set up to foster fresh ideas in dance by showcasing modern ballets by Wheeldon and others. This programme, the first of two at the Wells, produced a disappointing new commission, a dull acquisition and a welcome Wheeldon revival. But walking away with top honours was a piece created eight years ago by a Russian working in Denmark. If it hadn’t been for the latter, the evening would have been a letdown.

The new commission came courtesy of the Australian choreographer Tim Harbour. We are told (in helpful little films of the dancers in rehearsal) that his Leaving Songs is about the ending of things and the beginning of something else, but you would be hard pressed to glean that from his meandering and colourless classical writing. The undulating choreography (to music by Ross Edwards) cossets the dancers ( nine in all) to no clear purpose, while the use of clear balloons as dancing props is meant to suggest something deep, perhaps the circle of life and death?

Classical technique is the last thing on the minds of Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, a duo from Netherlands Dance Theatre, here working — inexplicably — with Morphoses. Their Softly As I Leave You is a dire trio for Drew Jacoby, Rubinald Pronk and an upright box (an upended coffin, a phone box?). It starts with Jacoby trapped inside, her heart and body struggling to be free; it ends, predictably, with Pronk in the box. In between comes their contorted romantic emoting to Bach and Arvo Pärt and very little of choreographic interest.

Wheeldon’s Commedia was new last year, but certainly bears repeating. His sparky and fleet-footed ballet playfully interacts with its music, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite. The commedia dell’arte theme is captured in the designs, which begin in full colour and then ebb away into a black-and-white geometric abstraction. It was dynamically danced by Royal Ballet guest stars Leanne Benjamin and Edward Watson, though the rest of the cast sadly failed to sizzle.

The Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, now based in New York, continues to deliver one stunning surprise after another. Here he offers Boléro, just the kind of choreographic fillip that Morphoses needs. With its novel, witty and intelligent use of the classical vocabulary and its irresistible Ravel score (conducted with enormous fun by Paul Murphy), Boléro lifts the spirits. The six dancers (including a standout Wendy Whelan from New York City Ballet) are fashioned as contestants; each has a number on the chest. The choreography sends them flying on a sensual and athletic pulse that sweeps all before it, as it swoops and soars out of sheer delight.

Box office: 0844 412 4300, to Saturday

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010