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Michael Moschen is a very articulate and intense performing artist with a quick and likeable smile. Although he is schooled in dance and gymnastics, he sees himself as having originally been a 'jock.'

"I started out playing competitive sports and didn't take juggling seriously," he said. "The first jugglers I saw were on the Ed Sullivan Show, but I didn't really become obsessed with juggling until I went to the 1967 IJA Convention. I was 13 at the time."

It is clear that Moschen has given a great deal of thought to his art. His eight-minute juggling act is one of the few juggling acts presenting two contrasting styles within one brief performance. Moschen's three ball routine is basically a character piece, whereas his fire juggling and torch swinging routines are presented seriously and emphasize technique. When explaining this dramatic shift in personality within his act, Moschen stressed that characterization and movement were the two most important performance concepts to him. "I consciously project a character which is a heightened side of myself - an impish kind of whimsical character who maintains the illusion that he is not quite sure what he is doing. At all costs I want my act to be fun, and a little bit strange."

Moschen's analysis of the dynamics of stage performance is so clearly thought out that he almost sounds like a college professor...

"There are three basic elements to a performance: the audience, the actual juggling, and the character of the juggler. Any of these three can be plugged in and juxtaposed in any different order to arrive at a different relationship. During my three ball routine, I try to get the audience involved psychologically by giving the impression that I am just fooling around. ..

He continued, "Actually, I don't really like to juggle clubs that much because it is much harder to get one's personality across during a club juggling routine. I juggle fire torches, however, because I am intrigued with the beauty of fire and because it is a crowd pleaser. Torch swinging is more aesthetically pleasing and easier to control, though.

"It allows me more freedom to move, since there's no throwing and catching involved. In general, fire means many different things to different people and has a universal appeal. Some people find it frightening and others are simply mesmerized, but everyone has a strong reaction."

Moschen is a firm believer in extensive physical conditioning and warmups before performances. He prefers yoga and dance stretches to keep limber and uses dance movements to enliven his three ball routine. Lately, he has been taking ballet and tap dancing classes.

He said, "My practice schedule varies widely. I used to juggle five to seven hours per day when I first became serious about putting together an act. Now I have numerous disciplines to practice and find that on different days I concentrate on different activities. Some days I don't juggle more than an hour and other days I might juggle for ten hours."

Moschen repeatedly expressed great respect for Francis Brunn, who is renowned for combining movement with difficult juggling tricks.

"I believe that dance should be used as a tool, not an end," Moschen said. "Ultimately, I would like to master a routine with only one ball, since I find that the fewer objects that are manipulated, the greater the opportunity for self expression. "

Moschen views his four-year association with The Big Apple Circus as very positive, allowing him freedom to experiment. He is now rehearsing with Fred 'Garbo' Garver and Bob Berky for their three-man show at the Dance Theatre Workshop in New York City. This summer, the trio will be instructors at the Antic Arts Academy at State University of New York in Purchase.

After concluding the interview, Moschen appeared to have something else on his mind.

He hesitated and then asked if he could comment on an aspect of the juggling world that he feels merits serious consideration. It related to competition: "I love IJA conventions and hope to be able to attend another one in the near future," he said. "There is only one aspect of the Convention that troubles me, though, and that's the championship competitions. From my days as an athlete, I am familiar with competition in sports, but I don't feel that there should ever be winners and losers in the arts.

"I understand the natural tendency to compete, which is not necessarily unhealthy, but the true struggle of a performing artist to be better should be an internal struggle for self improvement. "

...A struggle that Michael Moschen is clearly winning.