This is a matter that comes to me quite often… When we make a mistake, as choreographers, what are we to do?
Most people would say you need to learn from it, but then there is a whole lot of things at play here…
When do we realise it is a failure? Is it because other people say so? In that case, we don’t really listen to all opinions in the same proportion, do we?
To some people we would listen and learn, but most common practise is to either ignore, or react against. It is dificult to accept a, for example, bad review, but we also need learn to do that with time…

But my point today wasn’t about learning to cope with negative feedback.
My question is, are we, choreographers, really allowed to make mistakes? To try something and fail enormously?
I don’t think so. And yet, I think we should not only be allowed to fail, but encouraged to do so! To take the risk.
You are, at school, but never again (and even at school you usually pay the price, it’s just that this price is much more affordable than the one you pay when you’re professional…).

I am trying to learn to risk and fail, so that I can find my real language. (And I guess I mean to fail by my own standards rather than others’).

And this reminds me of a song by Fito y los Fitipaldis (by the way, they’re playing in London next week).

It says: “Let me be born, because I need to invent myself. To be a fish, I started with the bones”

You’re encouraged to disagree 😉