Before I saw my first Pina Bausch piece, I was convinced I'd hate it. At the time, I was heavily into cool, modernist contemporary dance, and I figured Bausch would be pretty much the opposite (I wasn't wrong). Plus, the piece was three hours long, with no interval. And I had terrible flu. Still, it was billed as a must-see, so I hauled myself along thinking, "This had better be a big deal."

Bausch could do that to you: take you to a higher place that you didn't even know existed. Not all the time and not every time, but she could do it. How? One way was by demanding that her performers dig deep within their own memories and feelings; famously, Bausch said that she was not interested in how people move, but in what moves them.