Hello all,
After an eventful weekend with Mom (archery at Academie Duello, t-rexes at Science World, and a bumpy boat ride on Howe Sound) I'm back for more bootcamp news!
Perhaps it was my weekend break, my pre- 11pm bedtime, or my newly confirmed desire for self-awareness and bodily presence that gave me extra vigor this morning; either way, I experience a heightened level of enjoyment in day 5 of bootcamp.
Being Wednesday, the theme was again circles. We started with footwork, moving in advances, retreats, passes and tutta voltas (full turns). Then we added swords; see my fellow bootcampers rocking the exercise below.
I’d like to clarify the name of our second 20 min section; it is perhaps more accurate to call it the “theme section” as opposed to the circuit section.
So, our circle “theme section” today included more rolls, quarterstaff flourishes, rope spinning and pell cutting. With two pells that I could spin between, it was as if I were fighting two opponents from opposing sides. In the true bootcamp fashion, Mané yelled out instructions: “Make sure you’re cutting with the top third of the blade! Watch your footwork! That’s good!” In addition to this verbal motivation, we had some epic movie music to work out to.
Arte, ardore, onore,
Sophia
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.