This is a momentous week for Duello.TV and Academie Duello: We recorded the last videos of our entire Level 1 to 3 curriculum! This project began mid-last year with us diligently recording classes each week as they were taught and it's amazing how quickly it has all built up. We're already hard at work recording…
Category: Programs
Rein-changing pt II
Last week I talked about the dressage letters in the riding ring, and how to use them to increase your accuracy. The exercise was a change of rein at the walk across the school from B to E. In your level 1 riding test we also ask you to: 7. Change rein on long diagonal…
Swordplay Training Videos for July 23 to 29
This week at Academie Duello we are looking at a fundamental strategy with the rapier, known as the True Fight; we are exploring deceptive attacks with the sidesword, designed to draw the opponent out of position; and we're employing the blow or strike with the side of the staff and learning how to counter them.…
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What's the most important thing in comedy?
"So... why didn't that work the way you wanted to?" "I didn't move fast enough." This is a conversation I often have with my students in class. The student has correctly identified an issue in tempo (typically everything else is being done correctly) but they've made a mistake in the aspect of tempo that…
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Bonzuko Stage Combat Book
Jenn Zuko Boughn Her book, Stage Combat: Fisticuffs, Stunts and Swordplay for Theatre and Film is the required textbook for Metro State and other stage combat programs in colleges across the country. She has been practicing and teaching the arts of stage combat since 1997, and Japanese martial arts since 1998. I visit her website:…
Is Goal Setting De-Motivating?
Our very own Rosie Jones came across an interesting article from a website called the the99percent (unrelated to occupy wall street) that contrasted the idea of focusing on goals vs focusing on experience or process. The findings suggest that focusing on the process or the feeling in the experience (ex. enjoying a good workout) was…
This week in class at Academie Duello - Vids
This post provides links to videos for every lesson we covered in the Mastery Program at Academie Duello for July 16 to 22. This week Green Cords (level 1) learn about control of the opponent's sword and take advantage of their opponent's movement to strike. Blue Cords (level 2) continue their work on provocations by…
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Alphabet soup: dressage arena letters
Take a lesson at almost any riding school and you will hear a stream of letters flowing past: "twenty metre circle at C", "between K and A develop working canter", "change rein FXH" and so on. These letters are not acronyms or arcane code, but simply markers on the dressage arena. No one seems to…
Strike with Vivacity
Studying self-defense and combat too often starts with blocks, parries or other methods of intercepting attacks. All of these techniques rely on seeing the opponent attack and choosing the appropriate movement to deal with it. The reactionary stance will keep you moving backward, looking for the next threat, and a victim of the attacker's speed,…
A post on posting
No, this is not about blogging, or fenceposts (that was last week), but on rising or 'posting' to the trot. The trot is a 2-beat gait in which the horse's legs move in diagonal pairs. It is the roughest gait to sit, which is why the technique of posting, or rising in the stirrups on…
Plateaux in training
An excellent post from David Packer Pn1, on when we reach flat-levels in our training and how important they are in our mastery of things. Here's the link. I can attest to how true it's been for me. Enjoy!
Stage Combat Stances
Every martial art will first teach the student how to stand, and the ideal positions to fight from. For actors in a stage fight, they must start with an appropriate stance for their weapon or historical period, combine that with their character's attitude, and sometimes add nuances of injuries or mannerisms. Basic Stance Standing upright…
Setting the Pace
First off, thank you to all you wonderful volunteers who came out yesterday, post-Canada Day hangovers notwithstanding, to pound posts, hammer rails, attack weeds and re-hang gates at Red Colt! We got a lot done in a short time and we couldn't have done it without you! Transitions Up until now in our Riding level…
This week's swordplay videos on Duello.TV
Welcome everyone to a new week in swordplay at Academie Duello and on Duello.TV! We just celebrated Canada day this past weekend by participating in the Vancouver Canada Day Parade. We had more than 60 fighters with longswords, sideswords, rapiers, and bows fighting their way through the streets of downtown. There's no better way to…
Intention
Next in our series of guest bloggers today: Matheus Olmedo. Matheus has been with the Academie for about a year now and has quickly risen through the ranks to become a senior Blue cord as well as an instructor in the Warrior Fundamentals program. During 2011 Matheus was at the studio usually more than I…
No Stage Combat Today
Just a reminder that the FDC Annual General Meeting is preempting today's stage combat class. Capilano college is hosting the AGM as part of the Nationals at 6:30 pm today. Comment on this post on our Posterous Blog.
Bartitsu Videos Worldwide
A picture is worth a thousand words (that's why we all like illustrations in our fight manuals), and a video is 30 images per second... so that's a lot better. Here's a selection of Bartitsu videos from around the world: Russia If you pause at 1m30, that poster was design by me, made to look…
Instructional Videos for this week at Academie Duello and on Duello.TV
Welcome to another week of curriculum at Academie Duello. We have had a lot of interesting things going on including a tournament this past weekend that featured competitions with the longsword, sidesword, and rapier for beginners and advanced practitioners. We haven't put out our own official recap yet (we're editing lots of video) but you…
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