So I'm away visiting family in Victoria, BC during the Holidays. I enjoy holidays not really as a chance to get away from working but as an opportunity to work on things I don't normally get a chance to focus on when I'm at the Academie. On this trip I'm focusing on writing, editing (I'm…
Read More... from Keeping up the Practice Regimen over the Holidays
I remember a few years ago on a commute into Academie Duello I met a gentleman on the subway who was a researcher and player of Renaissance era music. Our conversation delved into the similarities of our two pursuits from the challenges of making modern interpretations from old written notations, to the changes the instruments…
Read More... from A Comparison of Historical Music to Historical Swordplay
At the end of every evening class that I teach, I offer 10 minute private coaching sessions. These spots allow me an opportunity to work with people one on one and help them with struggles from class, tweaks to their form, and guidance for their overall development. Recently I had an interesting experience with one…
Read More... from The Power of a "What's Right" Coaching Session
This past weekend members were inducted into new ranks in the Academie, we indulged in Nerdy goodness at Nerdfest at the Rickshaw Theatre, and whole crews of new people tried Archery and Mounted combat for the first time. Rank Exams Congratulations to Rick, Dieter, and Steve on completing their rank examination for the second rank…
Read More... from Rank Exam Results, NerdFest, Archery, and Mounted Combat!
Check out our very own Kimberleigh Smithbower-Roseblade in the sports section of the Vancouver Courier today. If you don't live in Vancouver or shun the papery stuff you can check the article out on their website. The article tells the story of Kim's recent trip down to Mississippi where she worked with our friends at…
Read More... from AD's Kimberleigh Roseblade featured in Vancouver Courier today.
Autumn has descended on Vancouver, and whether you're looking for something to shake off the rainy doldrums or a different way to stay active indoors, look no father than Academie Duello. We now offer three unique Beginner's Courses, each an affordable $99 (+tax)! Fight Like Sherlock Holmes Bartitsu is a complex martial art with many…
Greetings everyone! It's the second week of October and the tracks of awesome swordplay continue, though one of them is only a slightly different course than last week. Greg and I posted up videos for Rapier Cutting for Green Cord (level 1) but as many of you let us know, that was completely incorrect.…
Greetings everyone, This week I am in Chicago preparing for the Western Martial Arts Workshop in Racine, Wisconsin. This is a superb Western Martial Arts event put on by the Chicago Swordplay Guild and is one of the oldest running events of its kind in the world. This week in our classes…
Greetings everyone to the first fine week of September. This past weekend many Academie Duello members as well as friends from abroad including Paul Wagner of the Stoccata School of Defence in Australia and Samantha Swords from New Zealand joined in the annual Cascadia North Accolade Tournament. This year the event took place on the…
I have finally managed to come down a bit more to earth since my return home from the Cascadia North Accolade Tournament this past weekend. Of course in classic Devon style, on the day of my return I went to the school, completely unloaded our trailers and trucks, headed home to do the same, then…
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The last week has been an interesting week in Western Martial Arts. The Audatia sword fighting card game being spearheaded by Guy Windsor of the Helsinki Sword School has well surpassed its funding target on IndieGoGo and is into some cool stretch targets. This project is absolutely worth funding so I recommend you follow the link and…
Read More... from Duello.TV for this Week and a Few Updates on the World of WMA
A couple of our instructors have been highlighted online in the last week, though in two quite different forums. Jennifer Landels was asked by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward to do some writing about herself to accompany a beautiful photograph he took of her around the time of the Shakespeare's Rebel event. It's gracefully written and gives you…
Read More... from A peek inside the world of two Duello instructors
Don't miss our next round of Beginner's Courses, starting the first week of September! Whether you join our Taste of the Renaissance or our Warrior Fundamentals program, prepare to get a unique workout that engages both your mind and body. Take it from student Tris H, who found the classes so valuable that she immediately…
Classes are cooking along at Academie Duello this week. One thing I have been excited about in Vancouver is the increasing number of women in our programs. We have always had a good ratio of men and women but in last night's Green Cord portion of class we had 12 students and only 2 of…
Some cool spots about Academie Duello showed up in a couple publications in the last two weeks. Patrick von Stolk of Briefed.ca an online men's magazine focusing on the Vancouver area came in and tried out Warrior Fundamentals last week. Briefed is beginning a new series of articles on fitness in the Vancouver area that's…
Hello Everyone, This has got to be one of my favourite weeks in our Mastery program curriculum but I'm a complete subtleties geek and I love the rapier -- a weapon that is all about subtleties. In Green Cord (level 1) we're using the cut to stringere the opponent's weapon (perhaps the least subtle…
Welcome to the first full week of August. Our Blue Cord and Red Cord curriculum works on a 9 month rotation and we're back to month 1. In both our calendars this is a month on fundamental rapier. For Reds (level 3) we're working on plays in various tempos and how to counter them. For…
We've just finished our fifth week of Knight Camp this summer. If you're unfamiliar with Knight Camp it is this super-awesome kids summer day-camp that we run weekly during July and August. In the camp kids learn swordplay, pole weapons, and grappling as well as non-martial knightly skills such as medieval games, heraldry (the science…