Alain Platel / les ballets C de la B
A special education teacher by training, Alain Platel founded, in 1984 in Ghent, a dance collective that shortly after took the name of les ballets C de la B. A self-taught artist, he learned the choreographer's profession on the job and opted, right from the beginning, for the mix of genres. Bringing together performers from different countries and artistic worlds, his show brilliantly blend dance, theatre and music to give a voice to the most afflicted. An engagé style that is marked by humanity, which rapidly won him international fame. In 2003, Wolf, a show on Mozart that is of an astonishing vitality, toured the world and created a great deal of enthusiasm through its rather exceptional dose of exuberance and extravagance. At the height of his recognition, Alain Platel chose to focus his work and that of his company on a more introspective, simple, edgy, even ascetic dance. Hence, a few pieces of new inspiration, like vsprs based on the work of Monteverdi, Nine Finger and Pity!, on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Alain Platel and les ballets C de la B have been to Avignon several times, presenting Bonjour Madame in 1996, Bernadetje in 1997, All Indians in 2000, vsprs in 2006 and Nine Finger in 2007.
ADB, April 2010.