Very occasionally, you see a show which is so extraordinarily good, it's exhilarating and has an utterly powerful effect on you. Pina Bausch's '...Como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si...' is such a show - made all the more poignant as it was the final work she created before her untimely death in 2009.

The current Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch: World Cities 2012 season is showcasing ten of Bausch's works, created between 1986 and 2009, and it's an oddity of the programming which saw Sadler's Wells present 'Como el musguito' right after the earliest work, 'Viktor' (1986), which makes it almost impossible not to compare the two works, and appreciate 'Como el musguito' for its differences.

Unlike most of the works in the current season, 'Como el musguito' used a completely stark set, with only a black backdrop and a white stage, suggestive of the Atacama desert or of ice, which regularly fractured as though it was breaking ice or tectonic plates. Even the props were minimal, with a chair brought out from time to time, and ubiquitous water bottles, but certainly nothing on the scale of Viktor's or Nur Du's excesses.

In most of these works which were commissioned by specific cities around the world, the structure is comprised of many little vignettes and tableaux, in which theatre is foremost and dance only happens when a story isn't being told. The beauty of 'Como el musguito' is that the stories were told through dance - and such exquisite dancing it was, too! - as though Bausch had reconciled herself to using dance as a form of expression without needing to rely so heavily on theatrics.

Bausch's works normally explore the range of human experience, often somewhat sardonically, but 'Como el musguito' appeared to have been created in an unusually positive and optimistic frame of mind, focussing solely on relationships, our quirks and the obstacles we often encounter - even if a three-way relationship with a sapling isn't usually one of them. We saw a man kiss Anna Wehsarg only to be slapped by her; he rehearsed the slap then called her back - this time, she kissed him, and he slapped himself in the face. Another woman prepared to dance with a man, stripped off his shirt, grabbed another man, stripped off his shirt too and pushed both to the ground. Wait for it... she laid herself across their ankles and counted out loud while both men did pushups and situps.

The solos were the emotional core of this piece, and they're some of the most beautiful and mesmerising dance you'll see. In fact, if you've watched the trailer at Sadler's Wells, two of the three dance sequences are from this piece: of solo dancers hurtling themselves around with free abandon, and a distinctive amount of hair - and the beauty of this work reinforces the tragedy of Bausch's premature death.

One of the women talks about how she's enjoying the moment, not dwelling on the past or the future, only living for now: and you can't help but wonder if these are Pina Bausch's own words.

'Como el musguito''s final performance may be sold out, but do what you can to get a ticket - or forever regret missing it.