Training the fighting skills of Bartitsu can help with your fitness goals, but skill development should be your main focus in class. We set aside some time in class for strength and conditioning, and you should continue this work outside of class for the best results. Warm Up Always begin your physical activity regimen with…
More Holiday Show and Tell
Still on hols, so more photos this week. While the Royal Ontario Museum doesn't have cuddly herds of black horses (see last week's post on the Musical Ride museum), it does have a surprisingly decent collection of western arms and armour. Here are a few of the cavalry related pieces: This rather gorgeous cavalry sabre…
Civic Sword Press
During this day, Canada’s Civic Holiday – what better reason to post WMA/HEMA-related events supported whole-heartedly by … civic authorities? Yes, we’re going back to Russia! (Apparently, last weeks assertion that things were quiet ‘over there’ was sadly mistaken, to say nothing of completely wrong!} Russia: Big Place … Big Events МАНГАЗЕЯ (Tobolsk,…
Being internal
Another link to Randy's blog today. I know that I start thinking internally a lot during my practice. Personally I do it more when playing with sideswords and longswords due to the many methods of moving a sword on an arc (cutting). I find that being attentive to how my body feels when practicing greatly…
Fight Choreography and Rehearsal
The Fight Director will arrange or choreograph a fight for specific actors on a specific stage. This is an important aspect of safety, because setting choreography early and repeating it often in rehearsal will give actors the consistency and confidence to perform safely in front of an audience. The better they feel about the safety,…
Holiday snaps
I'm on holiday at the moment, and far too full of sun and food to stir myself into writing a proper post. But I thought you all might enjoy some photos of the RCMP Musical Ride Museum & Stables in Ottawa: See the full gallery on Posterous Three year olds enjoying turnout. The stables. A…
Duello.TV Videos for This Week!
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…
A Kinder, Gentler Sword Press?
Women – don’t mess with them! They’re out in force this week – thrusting, stabbing, falling off of things, falling onto things and taking a fall. If my modest experience with local WMA/HEMA groups is any indication, we have one of the few martial arts that encourages, nay – requires at times, both genders to…
Edith Garrud and Jujitsuffragettes
Tony Wolf, the author of the two volumes of the Bartitsu Compendium, has also written a related book called Edith Garrud: the Suffragette who knew jujutsu. He is currently developing a work of multimedia fiction inspired by the Suffragette Bodyguard stories. Suffragette Bodyguards This week, Tony's article on the Bartitsu.org website focuses on The Amazons…
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…
Quiet, Responsible Sword Press
Its another quiet week for WMA/HEMA press, there’s nothing art-wise on the doorstep today. Even our Slavic and Germanic peers seem to be unnaturally quiet of late. Maybe somebody from the Academie Duello should fly over to Europe and report back on the state of play and study over there!We do however, offer a modest…
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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