Alain Platel (Ghent, 1956) trained as a remedial educationalist and is self-taught as a director. Perhaps it is this ‘outsider’s’ position, together with his exceptional sensitivity for the (all too) human aspect that – for more than 30 years now – has made each of his dance and theatre creations a highly personal and moving experience. Unique and yet universal, as witnessed by the long row of national and international awards Platel has received for his work. The imperfect and the vulnerable are the departure points for his work, in which he consistently seeks a movement idiom with room for big and complex feelings and motives. His at times unorthodox use of (classical) music is an ally not to be underestimated, from Iets op Bach to the recent nicht schlafen (2016) and Requiem pour L. (2018). In 1984, he founded Les ballets C de la B. That company has been has been the base of operations for his work since then.