No matter how many classes you come to you will never fully discover my art this way. The art is not contained within a syllabus or a curriculum.

I’m not saying there isn’t value in classes and teachers. There is tremendous value. Without them there would be nothing. It’s simply that classes are only the catalyst for understanding; they do not in themselves impart understanding. There is an expression of -- an inspiration for -- my art that resides in a class, but the art itself does not.

A martial art is a way of answering questions. The only way to discover the art is to ask those questions. Ask them of me, with your words, your fists, with thrusts and slashes. Ask them of yourself and have others ask these same questions of you.

Explore every nook and cranny, every dark alley, the deepest recesses, and the farthest expanses with your questions. Be bold with questioning, critical with questioning, scientific and foolish.

In the end, as my friend and martial artist Mark Mikita put it, “the only secrets are those kept by the questions you don’t ask."

Devon Boorman is the Co-Founder and Director of Academie Duello Centre for Swordplay, which has been active in Vancouver, Canada since 2004. Devon’s expertise centres on the Italian swordplay tradition including the arts of the Renaissance Italian rapier, sidesword, and longsword, as well as knife and unarmed techniques.
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