The role of God the Father would not suit Alain Platel. He does not have much faith in forming one's own church, with its own services. His creation is carried out in a variety of structures and with a variety of people. ‘Bonjour Madame...’ and ‘La Tristeza Complice’ were born from the womb of Les Ballets C. de la B., but ‘Moeder en Kind’ and ‘Bernadetje’, both in collaboration with Arne Sierens, came into being under Victoria's wings.

And yet Les Ballets C. de la B. is his parish. He is officially its artistic head, although it still works like the collective it was - everything was shared communally. That used to mean there was a communal creative process: nowadays the members of the old collective challenge each other to create their own work, as has already been done by Hans Van den Broeck, Christine De Smedt and Koen Augustijnen. In such cases Platel never sets himself up as a patron saint; his credo is more like: 'sink or swim'. But in both cases support is provided.

It seems it is only to a limited extent that his creations originate in his own mind. When rehearsals start he gives little to go on - there is no divine plan. It always embarrasses him; ‘Bonjour Madame...’ was based on 9 men and 1 woman. ‘La Tristeza Complice’ on an arrangement of Purcell for accordions. There is of course always much more than that, presumed and hoped, but Platel withdraws to the position of Mr Not-Know-It-All, so as to leave space for the unexpected and the unconsidered.
This time the starting point is the music of J.S. Bach. This is usually associated with technique and mathematics. Or with the scent of holiness and heaven, the cry for salvation, away from here. Platel wants to go down a third path: Bach as solace, as a voice for longing, need, rapture, rebellion and surrender, for everything human.

After a year and a half listening to everything by Bach, Platel has assembled his chosen few, which will be performed live, led by the cellist Roel Dieltiens. The ensemble of 9 musicians play the violin, viola, double bass, oboe, flute, recorder, organ, harpsichord and cello. Greta De Reyghere (soprano), Werner Van Mechelen (baritone) and Steve Dujardin (alto) will perform the vocal parts. This time it is not an arrangement - one does not fiddle with Bach. The music is even being played on old instruments. But authenticity is not a question of folklore; it still all comes down to reaching out to today's audience by understanding the styles of the past. It is here, on the route of emotional response, that Dieltiens' and Platel's paths cross.

Platel would not know how to handle unresisting modelling clay, but he can deal with strong personalities who are ready to show the sharp side of their tongue. The 9 dancers, who come from anywhere and everywhere, have been trained in as many different dance disciplines. They include several from ‘La Tristeza Complice’ (Minne Vosteen and Samuel Louwyck, and Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier who joined during the tour), a number of familiar faces from ‘The Best Belgian Dance Solo’, the competition that Platel set up (Lazara Rozell Albear and Larbi Cherkaoui), and several novices (Einat Tuchman, Lizie Estaràs and Darryl Woods). The group is again completed by the presence of children (an adolescent and a young girl). The starting point is once again to establish a world of differences.

Within this world the dancers invest their own stories or invent new ones, when Platel gives them the opening, and he excludes nothing of what is discussed in the dressing rooms: Diana, Dutroux, Dolly and Died-in-the-name-of-God. It produces uncomfortable images, which arouse notions of unutterable things, and exude the odour of lechery and rankness. A sort of hell.

And where does Platel fit into all this? You will not come across him if you are looking for an unambiguous answer. It is never either/or. His world is not neatly divided into sheep and wolves, a man is also a woman, and a thing can never only be beautiful. He embraces contrasts and connects up extremes. And/and. Simultaneously. There is no winner or loser in this movement; there is just as little talk of reconciliation (the sustained conflict as a source of the good, the true and the beautiful, if there has to be a moral to the story).
‘iets op Bach’ (A little something on Bach) proclaims itself a tumultuous marriage of heaven and hell.

Hildegard De Vuyst

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