Armizare Academy is an invitational event hosted by the Chicago Swordplay Guild for schools which practice within the Italian Swordplay tradition from throughout the world. This year Academie Duello has the honour of being invited to join in and be a part of this great meeting of teachers and students.
The event takes place at the beautiful and historic DeKoven Centre on the shores of lake Michigan in Wisconsin (just north of Chicago) from September 14th to 16th. This is an awesome opportunity to study with other schools doing similar arts to ours, in particular in the areas of longsword, wrestling, knife, and sidesword. The instructor slate this year includes:
- Devon Boorman, Academie Duello (Canada)
- Bob Charrette, Forteza Historical Swordwork Guild(USA)
- Sean Hayes, Northwest Academy of Arms (USA)
- Gregory Mele, Chicago Swordplay Guild (USA)
- Jason Smith, Les Maitres des Armes (Canada)
- Scott Wilson, Southern Academy of Swordsmanship (USA)
Christian Henry Tobler, of Selohaar Fechtschule, will also be teaching this year and giving comparison courses between Italian and German fighting systems. Definitely not to be missed.
The schedule includes 3 hour and 1.5 hour long workshops on Longsword technique, wrestling strategies, armoured combat, and more. Take a look at the full description of the event and courses in the schedule here.
The event also emphasizes the opportunity to meet and socialize with the members of other schools, engage in free sparring, and impromptu classes and study sessions during the day and well into the evening. This is an immersive weekend event!
In addition to formal classes there will be two feats of arms:
A Friday “Vespers Tournament” – an unarmoured tournament of sword, dagger and lance, open to all attendees.
A Saturday, Armoured Pas d’Armes, sponsored by the Chivalric Fighting Arts Association (an invitational tournament, celebrating the knightly art, to be fought with sword, lance, axe and dagger.
Travelling to conferences abroad is a great way to expand your western martial arts horizons, if you can, take this opportunity to do so. Registration is open on the Chicago Swordplay Guild site here.
Devon Boorman is the Co-Founder and Director of Academie Duello Centre for Swordplay, which has been active in Vancouver, Canada since 2004. Devon’s expertise centres on the Italian swordplay tradition including the arts of the Renaissance Italian rapier, sidesword, and longsword, as well as knife and unarmed techniques. Read more from Devon Boorman.