Week-Long Traditional Italian Knife Fighting Intensive

This November, join Maestro Roberto Laura for a week-long training intensive, studying the traditional knife arts of rural Italy. Over the course of 30 hours, students will cover all the material required to achieve the rank of trainer (allenatore), which is recognized by the ASAMIR (Associazioni Sportive Arti Marziali Italiane Riunite) in Italy, as well as on…

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Why you should wrestle, and everyone throughout history thought so as well!

There is a fallacy that is often presented in martial arts (and physical culture as a whole) that for people on the outside looking in there is no point to practicing. Why learn to fight with a sword, choke a person out, or lift a heavy weight if those things do not translate to a…

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Stepping up the Single-hand Reining

Riding Level 3: Cantering Single-handed For Riding Levels 1 and 2 you have already been asked to demonstrate single-handed reining at walk and trot respectively, so the next logical step at Level 3 is 11. Single hand reining: walk, trot and canter. The mechanics are the same, so first go and review these posts on…

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Paul Dennhardt on Stage Combat

In the article linked below, Paul Dennhardt, a theatre professor at the College of Fine Arts of Illinois State University, explains important aspects of stage combat that should be understood by everyone in theatre by now. Sadly, most productions still don’t know where to begin with a sword fight, or what the process involves, but…

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Archival Sword Press: News for May 2015

Within Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), our serious scholars often suspect that our community suffers to an unknown degree from ‘lost treasures’.  Precious books, scrolls, weapons and armour are frequently believed to have fallen to the decaying effects of time. Poor storage, war,  long winters (think fireplace fuel), flood, fire, and hoarding in private collections are just some examples of the natural…

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Pursuing the Ridiculously Challenging

“Alright, the next drill is even more difficult!” I said to a chorus of groans. It’s accuracy night in line drills and I have been progressively making each drill more challenging. Each target is increasingly smaller, requiring that much more precision. The drills have essentially moved into a realm where even the most experienced students are…

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Drill Teamwork

Riding Level 3: Drill Manoeuvres From Roman cavalry, to mediaeval heavy lance, to early modern light horse, mounted warriors have needed the ability to ride in organized formations, and exercises for training groups of riders have existed since Xenophon.  You can still see the modern equivalent in drill team exhibitions and our own RCMP Musical…

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