BEFORE Pina Bausch, a German choreographer, died in 2009, she had planned to stage ten of her works in London as part of the city's Olympic celebrations. The programme was casually discussed over dinner with Alistair Spalding, artistic director of Sadler's Wells, but the prospect was daunting. Bausch's productions tend to be technical feats, filling stages with tonnes of soil, litres of water - or chickens or sheep. "Putting one Pina show on is enough," laughs Mr Spalding. Putting on ten is stupid. But Bausch's untimely death made the programme seem a fitting tribute, and a way for the company she originated, the Tanztheater Wuppertal in Germany, to find their steps without her. The result is "World Cities 2012," staged until July 9th at Sadler's Wells and the Barbican as part of the London 2012 Festival. Spanning more than 25 years of Bausch's choreography, each piece is the product of an extended stay in a different city, from Saitama to Istanbul, and is infused with the local sensibility. The festival opened with "Viktor," a remarkable work saturated with the romance of Rome, where proud, rooster-like men adore and debase beguiling women. For "Bamboo Blues," at the Barbican later this month, Bausch's time in Kolkata becomes a chaotic medley of everything from Bollywood to Hinduism. Bausch's gift was to convey deep, emotional feeling without cliché or a clear narrative. Her choreography is rooted in the ordinary value of gesture - the way people reach or clutch or walk or talk - which lends an evocative quality to the dancing. There is often an element of tragedy brewing in the movement, as women and men reach for and past each other, their grasping desperate, confused or misunderstood. Her dancers often appear awkward, even silly, in ill-fitting costumes or unflattering arrangements. And there are moments of unexpected humour, verging on absurdity (Bausch enjoyed pushing a gag a bit too far, to the point of discomfort). But there is also glory, her performers spinning and flipping with grace and technical control. These mosaics of dance and theatre have the power and intuition of dreams. The scale of this festival (ten big productions in five weeks) necessitated the first collaboration between Sadler's Wells and the Barbican. Mr Spalding coos that it was the easiest partnership he can remember, and a "good grounding to go on and work together." In light of this achievement, that is good news.