Don't miss our next round of Beginner's Courses, starting the first week of September! Whether you join our Taste of the Renaissance or our Warrior Fundamentals program, prepare to get a unique workout that engages both your mind and body. Take it from student Tris H, who found the classes so valuable that she immediately…
Aug 19 Class Videos: Recovering Control with a Cut, Feints & the Deceptive Fight, Contra Tempo with the Rapier and Longsword
Classes are cooking along at Academie Duello this week. One thing I have been excited about in Vancouver is the increasing number of women in our programs. We have always had a good ratio of men and women but in last night's Green Cord portion of class we had 12 students and only 2 of…
Finding the stirrups ... again
Riding Level 2: Regaining the stirrups In Riding Level 1 we asked you to drop your stirrups and retake them at the walk. In level 2, you'll be asked to: 6. Drop stirrups at sitting trot and regain at walk There's not much I can say about regaining the stirrups that hasn't already been covered…
Perplexed Sword Press
There’s nothing local found this week, but Eastern Europe continues its traditional love-affair with all things historical and sword-like. The Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Russia all have WMA/HEMA competitions that have ‘hundreds’ of participants, with thousands of spectators – and often have strong municipal and provincial support as well. Their different sword-cultures are long and…
Briefed and Monte Cristo cover Duello
Some cool spots about Academie Duello showed up in a couple publications in the last two weeks. Patrick von Stolk of Briefed.ca an online men's magazine focusing on the Vancouver area came in and tried out Warrior Fundamentals last week. Briefed is beginning a new series of articles on fitness in the Vancouver area that's…
Plot in Choreography
Choreography should be more than stringing together combat movements in a random order. Based on last week's post Character in Choreography, you have some ideas how to customize your performance of a fight, but what about fight design? The Videogame Fallacy I love fighting games, and you can learn a lot about fighting styles from…
Position, position, position
Riding Level 2: Basic Seat Position I harp on it because it's so important. Everything you want to do on board a horse is so much easier when you start with good position. For Riding level 2 we want to see: 5. Basic seat position: walk & trot, sitting & rising with correct diagonal This…
This Weeks Classes: Stringere via the Cut, Offline Movement, Using and Defeating Mezzo Tempo, Dui Tempi with the Longsword
Hello Everyone, This has got to be one of my favourite weeks in our Mastery program curriculum but I'm a complete subtleties geek and I love the rapier -- a weapon that is all about subtleties. In Green Cord (level 1) we're using the cut to stringere the opponent's weapon (perhaps the least subtle…
Multi-Discipline Sword Press
Multi-discipline. In HEMA/WMA that could be the swordfighter that can properly use rapier ‘and’ side sword, wrestles well, and knows what end of a pole arm to use where. Add the ability to ride a horse, to dance well and to hit what your bow is aiming at … and you might have a multi-discipline…
Mind Your Manners, Ruffian
Is etiquette just silly pretension taken to an extreme in the Victorian era? Is there universal etiquette? What about the etiquette in a martial arts school? Where Are Your Manners? Etiquette is a manner of social interaction, that's why it's sometimes called "manners". Modes of address, gestures including eye contact, eating rituals and clothing (such…
Curriculum This Week: Rapier Cutting, The True Fight, Primo Tempo with Rapier and Longsword
Welcome to the first full week of August. Our Blue Cord and Red Cord curriculum works on a 9 month rotation and we're back to month 1. In both our calendars this is a month on fundamental rapier. For Reds (level 3) we're working on plays in various tempos and how to counter them. For…
Reining it in
Riding Level 2: Adjusting the Reins When you were a beginner rider, your instructor may have marked a spot on the reins, and said "keep your hands here." We do that because most riders tend to ride with reins far too loose when they start out, and the mantra "shorten your reins" gets old to…
Sword Press, eh?
We lead with two Canadian items this time around, a first We think for this blog. HEMA/WMA ‘is’ alive and well in the ‘True North, strong and … well trained’. Given the late start that Canada had with discovering a European martial arts heritage (no medieval nor renaissance-period sword fighting actually took place here in…