Patronising a generation

When I originally saw Kontakthof 20 years ago, it was my first experience of a work by the German dance-theatre expressionist. I was puzzled. It seemed over-long and self-indulgent, but many people more experienced than I proclaimed it a masterpiece. Now it is back, and having in the meantime watched 20 years of performances, Kontakthof now seems ... over-long and self-indulgent.

Set in a community dance hall, 12 couples dance, fight, attitudinise. Bausch knows how to reflect society, but she does not reflect on it: she holds up a mirror, but has no ability to transcend or transform her reportage. Instead, she goes for easy effects and cheap jokes.

Her new gimmick here is a cast of performers aged over 65. These are not trained dancers, instead, they are amateurs from Bausch's local Wuppertal community. Joseph Beuys, the great conceptual artist, once said in a moment of madness: "Every human being is an artist." Everyone who looks at the products of art schools knows this is nonsense. Yet, intriguingly, it is these performers who give Kontakthof whatever gravitas it possesses: Bausch settles for glib theatrical tricks, but the performers, through their commitment and moral seriousness, give the piece real weight. Bausch's repetiteur has commented naively: "Pina has always had a fantastic sense of what is 'in'. At the moment, old is 'in'." The performers are artists; Bausch is shown up as a hollow mockery.

Yet she holds them in contempt. She says: "In old age, too, there is beauty." The patronising hauteur of that "too" is reflected in every moment of this tedious, repetitive evening. Her website says Kontakthof "shows that the older generation has the same yearnings and fears as the young ones". Old people have feelings, too? Stop the presses!

Bausch's generalised contempt is not new. She most famously announced: "I am not interested in how people move, I am interested in what moves them." Only someone who despises her audience could say this.

A choreographer, not interested in how people move? Then I, as the audience, can surely abdicate my responsibility as well, and not watch any more.
Until 30 November. Box office: 020 7638 8891.

Pina Bausch