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.…
Read More... from What Terry Pratchett taught me about being alive and staying that way
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…
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…
Read More... from Book Review: "The Sword and the Centuries" by Hutton
It’s easy to imagine our progress in life as a trip. A road that has twists and turns, ups and downs, and that if you’re resolute enough, and travel long enough, you’ll find your way to your destination. The trouble with this metaphor is it doesn’t account for the ephemeral nature of destinations in personal…
Read More... from The Role of Metaphor in Growth and Training
Riding Level 3: Canter Leads At level 2 we asked you to be able to canter in both directions 'without emphasis on position or lead.' At level 3 you will need to: 6. Canter circles with correct leads First, go and review these Level 2 posts on the Canter, and Identifying Canter Leads. In the…
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…
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…
Read More... from The Myths, Legends, and History of St. Patrick
One of the main errors I see people making in solitary practice is over-practicing a single action. Generally this comes in the form of practicing a complex, multi-part action, without the needed external stimulus (meaning an opponent/partner) to give the technique its contextual relevance, timing, and feeling. The negative outcome I have seen, for many,…
Read More... from Keep Solo Practice Effective by Not Over-Focusing
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…
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…
The final week of Warrior Fundamentals. It was all coming to an end. While I was sad that the course was drawing to a close, we finished on a high note -- first, because we had the opportunity to play with polearms, and second, because we finally had the chance to spar, an experience that confirmed all of…
How do you transmit the precise movements of a performance to future performers? As a fight choreographer, I need to plan action scenes and teach them to actors. I need a method of recording human movement. Today, we’ll explore the options of how to write the movements in your choreography so you can best communicate…
Fifteen years ago we would have been hard pressed to read about swordplay in any newspaper – and the only reference to the art on television would have been clips of sword fighting (of a sort) from that year's 'sword and sandals' blockbuster. Nowadays, swordplay events, educational initiatives and salle training are ‘normal’ fare for…
Read More... from Ready for Prime Time Sword Press: News for Mar 6th 2015