Platel's Bold Dance Moves

By SARAH FRATER

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB127499307589697833.html?KEYWORDS=Platel%27s+Bold+Dance+Moves

Mr. Platel is currently busy rehearsing his next work "Gardenia." Featuring eight ->-bleeped-<-s and transsexuals, it's described by the company as a "play about cherished or lost illusions" and opens in June in Ghent, a city that has long been Mr. Platel's home. It's where he started the grandly named Les Ballets de Contemporaine de la Belgique -- soon shortened to C de la B -- in 1984 almost by accident with his sister and a friend. Teaching by day, they created small theater productions in their spare time. The organizer of an arts festival saw one of their shows and asked them to take part. One small project led to the next, with the breakthrough coming in 1993, when Mr. Platel's troupe was performing in Amsterdam.