‘Dance Talk: Alain Platel & Katleen Van Langendonck’

“I have learned to love all that is imperfect, and to present exactly that on a stage.”

Choreographer Alain Platel trained as a remedial educationalist. He searches for a dance idiom that connects with the unconscious, the random and the uncontrolled. On this quest, he has worked with children with disabilities, taking inspiration from Gilles de la Tourette’s Syndrome and archive images that psychiatrist Arthur Van Gehuchten (1861-1914) made of the contorted, seemingly absurd movement patterns of his hysterical patients. Where is the boundary between bodily control and loss of control, between physical possession and being possessed? Using Alain Platel’s multi-faceted oeuvre as a guide, we look at places where dance and daily movement, whether intentional or not, embrace each other.

The Dance Talk will be broadcast online for free on Thursday 3 December at 8pm on our Facebook page. There is no need to register in advance. The video of this talk will also be available on our YouTube channel and website afterwards.