It's back — the fourth Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium! February 17th to 19th, 2017 will be a weekend of amazing learning right in the heart of beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. The theme this year is This vs That: An Exploration of Martial Asymmetry. This is a do-not-miss event and I heartily recommend that you attend.…
What an amazing weekend! The skies were blue, the temperature was perfect, the horses were on their best behaviour, and the participants were incredible at Carosella 2016. On Friday the focus was on Horsemanship, Riding, and Mounted Combat Skills -- ie, the core tracks of our Mounted Combat Program. For Horsemanship we had Diane Prosser…
Let’s see now; what is "proper" historical swordplay? There are many definitions: Swordplay as it is strictly interpreted from a specific fightbook. The swordplay (tempered with safety concerns) employed by the SCA in their efforts to accurately recreate an overall (family-friendly) "feel" of being in the Medieval or Renaissance period. Swordplay as a martial art-driven, "totally different" fitness program.…
Read More... from Pigeonholed Sword Press: News for February 2016
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece called Three Things You Should be Saying to Your Martial Arts Students, where I encouraged teachers to reinforce for their students that practice matters more than talent. I received a lot of great feedback and got into some great discussions. The piece was even translated into…
This past Tuesday night, I got home from the school at about midnight. After class, which ends at 10pm, I spent another hour and a half with Greg committing more rapier and sidesword exercises to video. This is our third week of shooting this particular content. To support this month’s 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge,…
Read More... from How to Create Tangible Results from Martial Arts training
The third annual 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge is just about to start on January 2nd! If you’ve heard of yoga challenges, you know what this is about. It’s like that, but way cooler… there's swords. The challenge: practice swordplay for 30 minutes per day for 30 days in January from the 2nd to the 31st.…
Read More... from 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge: January 2016 Edition!
It’s the first day of the holiday and it’s always a bit confusing when you don’t go about your usual routine. I find myself not at Academie Duello, as I have been nearly every day for the past two weeks, but instead at my in-laws' for the preparation of Christmas Eve dinner. Now we set…
Read More... from A Christmas Eve Reflection on the Past Year at Academie Duello
Ever since I was a kid Halloween has always been my favourite holiday of the year. My mother would spend months sewing exceptionally detailed and original costumes for me and my brother, and I loved heading out into the streets of my neighbourhood to see what all the other families had decked themselves out in.…
It is refreshing to be alive in a time to see so much progress in our society in regards to LGBTQ* acceptance and civil rights -- though we still have a long way to go despite a lot of recent victories. This year in June we saw the Supreme Court of America legalize same-sex marriage. …
Read More... from Trans*gressions: the struggles and victories of trans athletes
The work that George Silver was best known for was his 1599 Paradoxes of Defence, in which he conducts a vehement denunciation of the Italian teaching of the civilian dueling rapier within his England and its subsequent use by a heretofore doughty race of backsword wielders. Paradoxes was not so much a fight book as…
This weekend was a momentous event for Academie Duello: our first Silver Cord (aka Provost) examination. A provost is one step below Maestro/Master and it represents an enormous achievement. Provosts are expected to demonstrate a high level of effectiveness within the school’s system, a demonstrable and defensible understanding of the school's pedagogy and theoretical approach,…
I have loosely followed a couple of different conversations that have touched on this topic within the HEMA community. The first is about a Trans woman who has been denied entry into the Pacific Northwest HEMA gathering Women’s Longsword tournament. (In short on this: I am in support of her inclusion. I think that at best…
Every year the Vancouver institution that is the Georgia Straight runs an open poll to determine the "Best of Vancouver" in a variety of different categories, and for many businesses it is the measure of success and recognition in the city. Whereas restaurants and hotels have comprehensively recognised marks of excellence, in a lot of cases…
What is Fancypants doing lying in the field? And who are those mysterious characters in black? To find out you'll have to wait till the next episode of the Vancouver B Movie Factory airs on Shaw TV. There will be swords, arrows, horses, and Fiore himself in 'The Flower of Battle'. In the meantime ...…
Hello everyone, I have some exciting news. On October 26th we are launching our first Instructor Training and Study Group Program! This program will give you the basis to start an official Academie Duello study group in your area or take the first step toward being an Academie Duello instructor. By joining the program you…
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Canada Day is fast approaching and as our country celebrates its 148th birthday, it is important that we as Canadians recognize that this birthday is based on Canada’s post-colonial history. On July 1st 1867 Canada became its own self-governing dominion within great Britain (and originally only included the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario…
Read More... from Okichitaw: Canada's only (Ab)original Martial Art System
Just like the sun, we are coming back with our beginner's courses! Enjoy your summer with three different ways to approach to Western Martial Arts. Bartitsu is a complex martial art with many interlocking skills and is still very useful for learning practical self-defence today. Its introductory course, Fight Like Sherlock Holmes, runs once a week for four weeks.…
In about 1877, Colonel Thomas Hoyer Monstery wrote: “I hold that every gentleman should be able to protect himself from insult and violence, with or without weapons.” [1] Words as true now, as they were more than a century ago! [2] But why listen to Col Monstery? In Self Defense for Gentlemen and Ladies, Ben Miller…