That metaphorical arm is still flung strongly around the younger man. When I start to ask Polunin his reasons for leaving the Royal Ballet, just as four major roles were his for the asking, it is Putrov who firmly steps in: “I think this interview is more about this programme and the role that Sergei is taking in this programme.”

Polunin looks down at his hands, a slight smile on his face, shaking his head when I check whether he wants to say anything about his abrupt departure, which is shrouded in both mystery (why would someone so prodigiously talented leave a company that was showcasing him as a principal?) and rumour (of late nights, missed classes, rows with ballerinas, of his plans to run a tattoo parlour).

But as our conversation unfolds, clues about his motivation do emerge. For one thing, it is clear he is enjoying the freedom of working outside a big company.

“What I hate the most is waking up in the morning,” he says, hesitantly. “Like a freelancer, I wake up fine. I want to get up. It is like… OK, I am doing what I want to do. Before, I would cry in the morning.” He breaks off, and laughs ruefully.

He says all this in an accent that combines hints of his native land with the kind of London enunciation that drops all hard consonants and slurs the words together in a continuous stream. Putrov, sharp and erect, watches him like a protective big brother, cracking jokes and finishing his sentences. He, too, made a sudden exit from the role of principal at the Royal Ballet, leaving in 2010 to take a starring role in The Most Incredible Thing, a collaboration between Javier de Frutos and the Pet Shop Boys which he developed.

That brought him into contact with Sadler’s Wells, which in turn led to the first Men in Motion programme. This was where Polunin, a week after his Royal Ballet exit, danced what many people feared was his swansong, in Narcisse, a virtuoso solo. This new programme is entirely different, featuring Tim Matiakis (from Royal Ballet Denmark), Clyde Archer and Isaac Montilor (from Spain’s national ballet company).

At its heart will be a version of Nijinsky’s L’Après-midi d’un faune, starring Polunin, as well as Vestris, a solo created for Baryshnikov and danced by Putrov, and two new pieces made by them – one a duet, the other a solo.

Putrov chooses to remain mysterious about the duet – “come and see it”. But the solo is Polunin’s tribute to James Dean, the perennial outsider whom he discovered through a film starring James Franco. “It is amazing acting in that film, one of my favourites. After that I did the tattoo on my shoulder of James Dean’s name without seeing the actual James Dean movie. Since then I bought lots of T-shirts of his and I watched the movies and I just liked his spiritual mood. That is what the solo is going to be about, what he is feeling inside.”

He is enjoying the creative process: “When you do something you own, it is completely different than someone telling you what to do. It is your own decisions, your own thoughts, your own creativity. Something like that you want to do.”

Do you plan, I ask, to do more of this in future? “It is so many different options,” he says. “Nothing has been decided so he can’t say,” adds Putrov. “Yeah, I could not be dancing in six months,” says Polunin, his crumpled smile breaking out again. “Nor might I,” jumps in Putrov, quickly. “I might be building sets or something.”

Again and again, in our conversation, there is a sense of a young man kicking against the traces of discipline that ballet demands. Most dancers, for example, regard daily class as essential. Not Polunin. “I am not a fan. I don’t believe you have to do classes to be good. And you don’t have to be in a nice studio to do class. You can do it at home. As long as you keep the same routine.”

Polunin talks with great admiration of Tamara Rojo, his partner in his favourite ballet, Marguerite and Armand, with whom he will dance in Japan in the summer. “She is my favourite person to work with,” he says. “You perform twice in a whole month but for the whole month you rehearse. Which is the really boring part. I hate that part.

“But with her, it is like the joy of rehearsal as much as on stage. That is very important.” He has stopped mumbling now, and is talking with some passion. “It is your life. Ballet takes most of your time. And if you are not enjoying it…”

He pauses, and talks to Putrov about different dancers, then adds: “The stage, that’s the only time I enjoy really. I don’t enjoy my working, killing myself during the day for eight hours. I would go to the club and just move about rather than that. But on stage is something quite special. It’s a lot of good energy, adrenalin.

“I never felt scared, because I did gymnastics before ballet. And in gymnastics you are made to compete. On stage, you need people watching you. I learnt this from 12 years old. If you don’t have adrenalin it is way harder to jump and spin.”

His natural, unforced leap is part of what has made him famous. What does it feel like? “It is a good feeling. When you go a little bit higher than you think. In rehearsal it doesn’t normally happen. It only happens with adrenalin in a way, so you kind of surprise yourself .”

Since he was a child of eight, Polunin has been immersed in the training and the discipline that enable him to dance that way. Yet he makes one astounding admission.

“I never watch dancing,” he says. “The only thing I love about dancing is men dancing, men’s solos. I have never enjoyed anything else. It is something that naturally happens to me so I do it, but I never liked watching it. So every time I rehearse with a ballerina – not Tamara – I am like, why are you telling me what to do, because I never get excited by their dancing.”

No wonder there are stories about Polunin failing to get on with his partners behind the scenes. But given this feeling, the programme Putrov has fashioned is an ideal one for his friend to perform in.

“When I did Men in Motion, I felt a lot of the love of it back,” he says. And Putrov smiles benignly. “I think it is going to be a good evening,” he says.

‘Men in Motion’ is at Sadler’s Wells, March 13-15, 2012