F‹r die Kinder, first staged in April 2002, was inspired by a Native American story called "How the Bat Came to Be." According to Bausch, the dance, described as a "multigenerational ode to dancers at each stage of their lives," is about "getting close again to things we have forgotten and being able to leave behind fears." The core of the dance revolves around two men, company member Dominique Mercy and former company member Lutz F‹rster.

The work takes place in a white box of a set, designed by Peter Pabst with moveable windows and doors. The score uses works by John Zorn and Marc Ribot, Prince, Nina Simone, and Marilyn Manson, among other artists.

Bausch has been working in dance for over 30 years, examining the themes that arise from the intersection of movement and everyday existence, and she is credited with reviving modern dance in post-war Germany. Bausch became the director of the Wuppertal Opera Ballett in 1972; not long after her arrival, the company became the Wuppertaler Tanztheater, and was later renamed the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

BAM's Next Wave Festival is responsible for bringing the Bausch work to New York; the festival has presented such experimental artists as Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson for 22 years.