To watch "Kontakthof," Pina Bausch's masterpiece of dance theater, is to be like a voyeur peering from behind a one-way mirror into the everyday battlefield of male-female interaction.

The dancers, too, seem to treat the audience as a mirror, slicking back hair, adjusting bra straps, preening and pulsing with the forces that impel men and women together and apart — and which the world-renowned Tanztheater Wuppertal company will unleash at Saitama Arts Theater from March 20-23.

In a recent interview ahead of that visit, Tanztheater Wuppertal's artistic director, Lutz Forster, spoke with The Japan Times — stating at the outset: "We've a long history in Japan. My first appearance here was in 1986 — almost 30 years ago now — and it's always a great adventure, because the public here are very enthusiastic and understanding of our work."