Weight training for injury prevention by Steven Ragatz

Warming Up by Steven Ragatz

Visualization and Juggling by Steven Ragatz

Numbers Training by Steven Ragatz

Apart from the advice that others give, you can combat your stage fright with good writing.

If the act that you wish to perform has flexible spots written in, then there is less pressure for perfect execution. The street juggler metaphor is the drop line. If you make a mistake, go with it, and use that opportunity to enhance the performance. If you are doing a technical routine to music, then the notion of making some wise crack to the audience is inappropriate. In this situation, there are other drop covers that don't require talking that could be used. A kickup, or some rolling tricks, or an acrobatic aside can all keep you in touch with the audience and deal with the alleged mistake.

Not only can you write it into the choreography, but you can write it into the character. If your stage persona is a klutz, then there is little fear of mistakes. If you stage persona is supposed to be a manipulation master, then you had better produce a flawless execution.

If you are doing Moschen-esque, crystal ball, contact juggling, then you had better be prepared for some tense shows.

If you are working to music, and the music is simply background for your manipulation, then you have a great deal of freedom to add or omit moves to cater to your feelings at that particular performance. A drop in this situation can be recovered and you can slip back into the act without worrying about your music. But, if your act is closely choreographed, and linked to the music, then the best thing to do may be to simply admit the mistake and move on. To prepare for that, make sure that you have very specific points in your music that you know where to go if there is a drop. Clearly learn that if there is a mistake during a certain musical phrase, that the place to pick up the routine is at the next musical phrase. This gives you a very clear amount of time to deal with the drop and relate to the collective situation.

Practice drops with the music to challenge your understanding of the act's structure.

The audience is empathetic to you. As a juggler, your primary tool is control. Any break in that control causes an emotional ripple to surge through the crowd. More often than not, a drop is interpreted by the audience as a loss of control. Your best weapon against this is to communicate to the audience that you are OK with the mistake. If you "tell" them that everything is still in control, then they will be far more willing to accept you and the inevitable fact that you are human.

Most of this isn't going to help three days before a show. Look to the other posts for some good quick fix ideas. In the future, you can guarantee a good performance by writing one that can't be bad. When you go on stage to perform a well written act that has lots of safeguards, I can assure you that the butterflies will go away. That's when you, and the audience, will be able to sit back and actually enjoy the experience.

Steven Ragatz