Sometimes, my career feels like a succession of Wile E Coyote’s Looney Tunes disasters. Okay, not so much hurtling off a cliff or being squished by an anvil in pursuit of Road Runner – but the inevitable failures of a freelance career can sting too: unpublished articles, cringe interviews, lost gigs and bungled opportunities.

Making peace with failure is also part of a dancer’s career. From flunking an exam or audition, to losing a role or your footing on stage, there are so many pitfalls. The Fonteyn, the RAD’s flagship competition, is about to take place in London – and although it will mean success for many candidates, for some it will open up a whole new world of disappointment.

But can we learn from failure? Can it help us grow? For Dance Gazette, Lyndsey Winship asks experts about the art of failure – and bravely shares her own childhood disappointment when an audition for The Nutcracker didn’t go her way.

Sometimes, my career feels like a succession of Wile E Coyote’s Looney Tunes disasters. Okay, not so much hurtling off a cliff or being squished by an anvil in pursuit of Road Runner – but the inevitable failures of a freelance career can sting too: unpublished articles, cringe interviews, lost gigs and bungled opportunities.

Making peace with failure is also part of a dancer’s career. From flunking an exam or audition, to losing a role or your footing on stage, there are so many pitfalls. The Fonteyn, the RAD’s flagship competition, is about to take place in London – and although it will mean success for many candidates, for some it will open up a whole new world of disappointment.

But can we learn from failure? Can it help us grow? For Dance Gazette, Lyndsey Winship asks experts about the art of failure – and bravely shares her own childhood disappointment when an audition for The Nutcracker didn’t go her way.

This issue isn’t all failure, of course. We hear how dancers will tackle Frederick Ashton’s deceptively breezy solos in The Fonteyn – what is the secret to their lyrical charm? And we celebrate some unquestioned successes – like early career RAD teachers making a difference in their classes and communities, or star choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, receiving the RAD’s Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award for his breathtaking work (he’s also the 100th guest on the RAD podcast, Why Dance Matters).

What have you learned from disappointment? Have you turned glitches into gold? I’d love to know, so please drop me a line at gazette@rad.org.uk. Fail again, fail better!

David Jays
Editor