Exciting news for Academie Duello. We have scheduled our first Silver Cord examination for August 21st, 2015. This is excellent news for us as a school and for me as the Master Instructor. The Silver Cord is the fourth rank in our system and is the equivalent of a Provost level in swordplay schools from…
Let’s take a look at the two workshops that David McCormick, head of Bartitsu and head of stage combat at Duello, will be teaching at the Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium: Power generation for punching and thrusting, and physical culture exercises. Body Mechanics of a Powerful Punch and Thrust Friday, 27 March, 2pm-3:15pm Who hasn’t been…
March is underway which means that the Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium is almost upon us. We have a star-studded list of HEMA instructors and lecturers coming in from around the world. One of the guests is particularly near and dear to my heart and that would be Bob Charrette. Not only will Bob be offering…
As of the new year, we have a new schedule for the next round of beginner's courses! Prepare for swinging swords and pulling punches. We offer three different courses which cover three separate avenues of Western Martial Arts. Bartitsu is a complex martial art with many interlocking skills. Our four-week Fight Like Sherlock Holmes course gives students an in-depth…
Today is the first day of Kwanzaa. Many of us know of Kwanzaa, but not many of us know its origins and how it is celebrated. Today, I would like to talk about what the holiday truly means, and how we can apply its core principles to our lives as martial artists and practitioners of…
Read More... from The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa and How to Apply Them As Martial Artists
Merry Christmas to all the wonderful practitioners of swordplay and all of our martial arts brothers and sisters. May your year be filled with the ringing of steel, the feel of a good blade in your hand, and the embrace of brethren at arms. I hope that before you are both the challenges that make…
A new year is coming so get into our next round of Beginner's Courses! Prepare for swinging swords and pulling punches. We offer three different courses which cover different avenues of Western Martial Arts: Fight Like Sherlock Holmes Bartitsu is a complex martial art with many interlocking skills. Our four-week Fight Like Sherlock Holmes course gives students…
Congratulations to everyone who examined in our November 28th rank examination at Academie Duello. This was a very special event as it not only had examinees within the Mastery program (our core adult martial arts program), but also had two members of our Youth Program who were the first ever to test for the Blue…
Because winter is coming, our next round of Beginner's Courses are just around the corner! Prepare for winter by swinging swords and pulling punches. We offer three different courses which cover different aspects of Western Martial Arts: Fight Like Sherlock Holmes Bartitsu is a complex martial art with many interlocking skills. Our four-week Fight Like Sherlock Holmes course…
Read More... from Intro Courses beginning late October/ early November
Hey everyone, it’s one week away from our performance at "Bard on the Beach: Fight Night”, Monday Sept 8, 7:30pm! It will be an amazing night of swords and words: readings and stories from Christopher Gaze and C. C. Humphreys, famous sword fights re-enacted from Shakespeare's plays, and behind the scenes explanations of the choreographic process.…
Unless you plan to do all your equine activities within a few miles of your stable, you will eventually have to deal with trailering horses. For level 3 we don't expect you to demonstrate hauling, but we do want you to: Describe how to lead in and out of a trailer There are many videos…
This past weekend I was in Helsinki Finland visiting Guy Windsor’s School of European Swordsmanship. It was the last stop on my teaching tour of Europe and a very nice place to make my last major visit before coming home. On Saturday both Guy and I travelled to Tampere, about 2-hours North of Helsinki for…
Read More... from Devon's visit to the School of European Swordsmanship in Helsinki
A weekend ago I attended the HEMA gathering in Dijon, France. This is one of the oldest events in Europe and has grown from a small gathering of friends to a very large gathering of friends. This was my first time being at the event and it was a pleasure being there as an instructor…
Read More... from My Experience at the HEMAC-Dijon Swordplay Conference
I just finished Day 1 of my workshop for the Halbardiers (and associated groups) in Bruges. There were 26 people in class today which was a nice turnout. The topic was Italian Longsword ala Fiore. We had 8 hours and covered a tremendous amount of material, which is a testament to both the ability and…
Last Friday night Academie Duello and the Social Concierge hosted an elegant tournament and demonstration of swordplay at the Vancouver Club in downtown Vancouver. The evening involved performances from the Vancouver Opera, Champagne Sabreing with various historical swords, a beautiful decked out ballroom, and an invitational rapier tournament of Academie Duello's senior students. The event,…
Read More... from Photos and Comments From the Duelling Arts Rapier Tournament
With 2014 now upon us many people are looking at their New Year's resolutions. Almost every person I know has something on that list pertaining to trying something new as well as improving their health and fitness. One of the great things about Academie Duello is that with the new year brings a new set…
Read More... from Introductory Courses for the New Year at Academie Duello
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!
Until this weekend we had an unbroken streak of good weather for Mounted Combat. In the two years we've been running the Mounted Combat workshops we've had stunningly good weather, with maybe a sprinkle of rain at the beginning or end of the day. However, when our weather luck failed, it failed spectacularly, and chose…