For my sons 13th birthday, we went to see a performance of ‘Luzia by Cirque di Soleil’ at the Royal Albert Hall with a group of his friends. What a spectacular extravaganza it was, made up of all the elements of circus and showmanship, reimagined and executed to the highest level of artistry imaginable. Remarkably different from the Circus acts that we went to see as children in India, where the exploitation of the performers and inhumane treatment of animals was palpable and left me feeling deeply uncomfortable. This pageant included acrobatics, juggling, puppetry, light and water show, giant hoops, air trapeze work, contortionist, song, dance, humour and anything else you can think of, set to a Mexican theme. The adults and kids in our group alike came away wonder struck and delighted by the sheer brilliance of what we had just witnessed. What was fascinating to me was that there were mistakes made on stage. Not just the odd one or two but a few of them. This was the Royal Albert Hall after all and the most highly skilled circus company on the planet. Initially this took me by surprise, but they just carried on without missing a beat. I was struck by the air of acceptance for these errors of judgement as a natural part of the brilliance being expressed there. I was reminded of a story about a championship ice skater who went to a coach to improve his performance. The coach observed him for quite some time, the skater was very, very good, practically flawless. Finally the coach told him to fall over. This advice sounds ridiculous at first. But when the athlete had permission to fall, all the energy that was being used by his system to prevent him from falling over was available to be used in a different way. He evolved to a whole new level by having permission to make some mistakes. In the midst of the glitz and glamour that day, I received an unspoken message : Mistakes don’t take away from our brilliance, mistakes encourage it. What’s your experience with brilliance and mistakes? 
Luzia by Cirque du Soleil at the Royal alert Hall in London, January 2022