Michael Moschen: Mysterious Forces
A Journey Through Creativity, Skill, and Discovery
Mysterious Forces is a groundbreaking exploration of creativity, skill, and the human learning process by the internationally acclaimed master juggler and performance artist Michael Moschen. Known for his award-winning, innovative techniques and mesmerizing visual routines, Moschen has spent decades redefining the boundaries of movement, object manipulation, and theatrical storytelling. In Mysterious Forces, he brings audiences into the heart of the creative process, revealing the principles, challenges, and joys that drive human invention.
The show begins with a philosophical inquiry into the nature of learning and skill acquisition. Moschen demonstrates that learning is a lifelong journey shaped by individual experience and evolving environmental influences. Through thoughtful reflection and dynamic performance, he examines the questions: What is skill? What does it allow us to achieve? What limits exist in our abilities? These inquiries set the stage for a deeper understanding of how humans interact with the unknown and how mastery develops over time.
Central to the experience is Moschen’s investigation of risk, focus, and personal boundaries. He guides audiences to confront preconceptions and internal limitations that influence their creative endeavors. By illustrating how risk is an inherent part of learning and innovation, Moschen emphasizes that true growth requires confronting uncertainty and embracing challenges with clarity and courage.
Mysterious Forces is as interactive as it is illuminating. Moschen invites all audience members to participate in skill-based exercises from their seats, providing a hands-on glimpse into the mental and physical challenges that underpin his own creative journey. These moments of engagement allow participants to experience firsthand the interplay of concentration, dexterity, and imagination that define his art.
The performance also features Moschen’s signature routines — award-winning, visually stunning demonstrations of juggling, manipulation, and movement that serve as both entertainment and teaching tools. Through these sequences, audiences witness the integration of technical mastery, playful experimentation, and conceptual thinking, illustrating how creativity arises from disciplined practice and fearless exploration.
By blending performance, philosophy, and participatory learning, Michael Moschen: Mysterious Forces offers more than a show — it is an immersive lesson in creativity, skill, and human potential. Audiences leave with a renewed sense of curiosity, inspiration, and appreciation for the power of focus, risk-taking, and the joy of continuous discovery. Michael Moschen impacts positively on students, has provided a motivating force in their learning process.
Skill, Risk, Focus, Journey
Before we make the leap into the unknown, we must come to terms with our self-imposed perceptual frames. All of our well-intentioned efforts become labored and unsatisfying unless we can reveal, clearly define, and then embrace our own personal sense of risk.
How we choose what is essential in any given learning situation is determined by the level of our focus. It is the first step in the journey towards realizing the freedom and joy of an expanding awareness.
Creativity starts with the desire to question, the courage to play, and a belief in the unknown.
Michael weaves his innovative and award-winning routines into the show to provide examples of his own journey and creative process. Michael also asks the audience to participate in skill based activities from their seats to convey the challenges he encounters on his creative journey.
Creativity
“Michael opened doors in my mind that I never even knew existed.” – Workshop Participant
“We spend our entire lives learning. To accomplish much of this we must acquire new skills. Whatever the subject matter to be explored, our growth is dependent, in large part, on our ability to develop and then implement the skills that are required. What is skill and what does it liberate? What are its boundaries?
When we are committed to honesty in our process of learning, risk is inescapable. Before we make the leap into the unknown, we must come to terms with our self-imposed preconceptions, limitations, and fears. All of our well-intentioned efforts become labored and unsatisfying unless we can reveal, clearly define, and then embrace our own personal sense of risk.
How we choose what is essential in any given learning situation is determined by the level of our focus. It is the first step in the journey towards realizing the freedom and joy of an expanding awareness.
Creativity starts with the desire to question, the courage to play, and a belief in the unknown.”
~ Michael Moschen.
Michael Moschen is a MacArthur Fellow and has lectured at: NCTM, AIGA, Intl. Design Conference, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, College of Design and numerous other universities.
Michael Moschen
The magic of light and movement has never before been combined as it is in the world of Michael Moschen. Considered unequaled in the world of juggling, Michael has transcended object manipulation from a novelty to an art form. The undisputed inventor of contact juggling, Moschen uses his body and his Olympian skill to make objects float. Unencumbered by gravity, seemingly defying the laws of physics. The only variety artist ever to receive a MacArthur Genius Grant, Michael Moschen is the kind of performer that comes around once in a lifetime.
In the Jim Henson film Labyrinth, Mr. Moschen (as David Bowie’s arms) creates one of the most memorable scenes in film history, where crystal balls dance across his hands. A visual so remarkable most viewers thought it was a complicated special effect. It is this remarkable artistry that Michael brings to his one-man show. A show so captivating, so universal, that no matter age nor ethnicity, audiences the world over will never forget the illusion-like juggling of Michael Moschen.
“In Mr. Moschen’s hands, juggling becomes a balletic art… (he) elevates a minor theatrical art to visionary heights.”
– New York Times
“I wonder if we shall see anything more beautiful than what Michael Moschen achieves with a ball of glass.”
– The London Times
“Michael Moschen is a juggler, a kind of dancer-physicist – someone who can bend and twist the visible world out of the norm through the sheer grace of his own movements.”
– San Francisco Examiner
“Michael Moschen’s performance is exhilarating, virtuoso entertainment… he gamely makes you privy to the secrets of the universe…”
– The Village Voice
“He doesn’t do anything the easy way. His opening, called Light(excerpts) is one of the most magical things to be seen on stage.”
– The Denver Post
“Moschen walks a fine line between entertainment and high art.”
– The Boston Globe
