Alain Platel was born in Ghent in 1956. In 1969, he was accepted to study at the Hoste-Sabbattini Mime Centre in Ghent. He trained as a remedial educationalist, working with physically and mentally disabled children, but continued to study mime (with Wim Vandekerckhove) and later to take courses at the Paul Grinwis Academy of Ballet. In 1980, he attended a contemporary dance workshop led by the Canadian choreographer Barbara Pearce in Paris, and went on to dance in her production Patchwork. As a director, Platel is self-taught.
