There aren’t many choreographers whose work can truly be called unique. Pina Bausch is – was – one of them. She died in 2009 but her instantly recognisable dance theatre lives on. To a degree.

Bausch is a reliable favourite at festivals. There was a special frisson when her version of The Rite of Spring, arguably at the top of the huge pack of dances made to Stravinsky’s imperishable music, came to Adelaide in 2022 with a cast drawn from a number of African countries. Nelken was seen in Adelaide with the Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal company in 2016 and never forgotten.

This year Bausch is represented by the early work Café Müller, seen alongside two shorter pieces by the Bausch company’s current artistic director Boris Charmatz, who also has his own outfit, Terrain.

The portmanteau title for the trio of dances is Club Amour and it’s true, love can come in many guises. A more persuasive connection, perhaps, is different expressions of extreme vulnerability. It’s clearly something that’s timeless as the newest of the pieces, herses, duo, was made nearly 30 years ago.