Dancer, choreographer, and leading figure in the Tanztheater movement, Pina Bausch, died today in Wuppertal, Germany, after being diagnosed with cancer a few days before. She was 68.

Bausch, who frequently brought work to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, was born in Solingen, Germany on July 27, 1940. She was most associated with a form of dance-theater called "tanztheater," which combined dance and theatrical modes of stage performance in an expressionistic manner. In 1973, she founded the Wuppertal Tanztheater, and her work frequently dramatized the battle between the sexes.

She was featured in Pedro Almodovar's Oscar-winning film Talk to Her, and received numerous awards during her lifetime, including the Berlin Theatre Award, European Theatre Prize, Bessie Award, Olivier Award, and the prestigious Kyoto Prize in 2007, which rewarded her for opening up a new direction in theatrical art.