Feats of Strength

During my physical culture workshop at VISS last weekend, we looked at a few feats of strength. Some of these might be thought of as cheating, others are outright stage illusions. Victorian Classic Strength First up, classic feats from the Bartitsu Compendium I, in a section called "How to Pose as a Strongman". 1. Using…

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Fighting Like a Mom

As I write this, my baby daughter is currently asleep in her crib, beside my bed. Behind her, leaning against the wall, is my longsword. I started swordfighting in February 2014. I wanted to learn, but I also wanted to improve my health. My husband and I had been trying for a baby for almost…

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New Cycle of Cavaliere Program Classes

Along with the daffodils and bunnies, a new series of Cavaliere program classes are springing up in April!  If you are completely new to the program, come out for the Intro to Mounted Combat, or just show up as a spectator at the Mounted Combat Playday on Easter Sunday.  And if you are working on…

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What's at VISS for Mounted Combatants?

The Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium is coming up this weekend.  If you have any interest at all in western martial arts, whether as a current practice or from a historical point of view, this is an event you don't want to miss!  Although there are no specific Mounted Combat workshops taking place at VISS, here's a…

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What Terry Pratchett taught me about being alive and staying that way

Sir Terry Pratchett died this month, and like many people who grew up with his writing as a constant I partly feel like I don’t know how to be an adult without him ticking away somewhere in the world, producing books that, although satirical, probably contain more life-changing wisdom than any self-help book ever could.…

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Creative Combat

I was inspired by CBC Ideas podcast “Eureka! Mapping the Creative Mind” to discuss creativity this week. If you have more technological interests, CBC Spark also discussed creativity this weekend. Mainly, I’m distilling the current research into creativity itself, and we’ll talk about applications to both theatrical combat and real fighting at the end. Creative…

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Book Review: "The Sword and the Centuries" by Hutton

One of the most precious resources we have as martial artists is personal 'free time'.  We never seem to have enough of it to do the things we ‘want’ to do. So is it inevitable that we will have to face the choice of either reading and studying any of the myriad books and journal…

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McCormick's VISS Workshops

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…

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The Myths, Legends, and History of St. Patrick

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and this weekend Academie Duello will be celebrating with CelticFest Vancouver.  This Irish national holiday is celebrated in more countries around the world than any other national holiday.  Countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, America and the U.K. are all known to raise a glass of…

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Special Guest Instructor: Bob Charrette

  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…

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Swings and Roundabouts

Riding Level 3:  Circles and Turns The fifth item on the Riding Level 3 checklist is: 5. Circles and turns at trot with correct diagonal changes. You have already demonstrated circles and half-circles at walk and trot for Level 2, and before you test Level 3 you should review that material, making sure you know…

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Why Front Headlocks Fail

The front headlock is a very common position that occurs in many forms of wrestling. It is so instinctual that many children use it in play fighting without ever having seen it before. Although there are two directions for "chancery" in bare-knuckle boxing, the front headlock is by far the most common. Despite the popularity,…

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