Alain Platel awarded the $22,500 grand prize offered by the city of Montreal and Québecor

Founder and choreographer of the famous Belgian troupe Les Ballets C de la B, Alain Platel was awarded the $22,500 grand prize offered by the city of Montreal and Québecor. Platel’s compassion for people who are marginalized lies rooted in his early training as a psychologist. “I never trained in dance or theatre so I feel a bit strange to find myself here,” admitted Platel, whose score of dance-theatre works have made him a prominent figure in European contemporary dance. Earlier this year here, his company performed Tauberbach on a stage overflowing with rags to represent a Brazilian dump yard. Social misfits in ordinary society, the work’s characters created a “home” environment that suited them without prejudice.