Ready for an exhilarating and informative experience you and your students won’t soon forget? Academie Duello offers a rare opportunity to immerse your students in the learning process through hands-on tours through European history and unique swordplay and archery lessons. We offer demonstrations, lessons, and presentations for students of all ages at your school or at our swordplay centre & historical museum in downtown Vancouver.

Contact us for more information or to book your field trip. Call 604-568-9907 or email us at bookings@academieduello.com

What We Do

• Let your students interact with historical items in a safe and engaging environment.
• Connect your students with history through presentation, lecture, demonstration, and hands-on lessons.
• Teach movement, fair play, knightly virtues, sportsmanship, and more.
• Teach the renaissance arts of rapier fencing, longsword, staff, and archery.
• Get kids moving, thinking, and interacting while they learn.

We’ll work with you to customize any of our programs to meet your learning objectives and supplement your curriculum. We can accommodate most budgets and learning needs.

What We Bring to You

• An opportunity for your students to both study and interact with history.
• Historical artifacts and reproductions from swords, to armour, to coats of arms and more.
• The tools to excite your students about math, science, history, phys. ed. and other subjects.
• An inspiring way to meet your learning objectives.
• The most exciting field trip or classroom visit you’ll have this year!

Swordplay Presentation

Come on a journey through time, and learn about the martial history of knights and duellists!
Far from armoured brutes wildly hacking and smashing their enemies, the knights and duellists of the middle ages and renaissance were highly trained martial artists. Skilled not only with swords, but also with daggers and spears, in and out of armour, on foot and on horseback.

Presenters from Academie Duello will host your students, or travel to your school. Over the course of an hour they will describe the martial arts of medieval and renaissance Italy, along with live demonstrations, show and tell of medieval weapons and armour, and a Q&A period at the end of the presentation.

LENGTH: Minimum one hour, maximum of six hours
NO. OF STUDENTS: Accommodates up to 30 students in a group at our studio, and as many students that a site of your choice can accommodate. Additional travel expenses will apply.

Swordplay Lesson

En garde!

Immerse your students in the middle ages and renaissance, with a lesson in the arts of knightly combat.

Swordplay is a great special program to offer as part of your physical education classes as a single session or an ongoing series. We combine historical swordplay skills with modern physical conditioning techniques in a way that will excite your kids to move. We have had great results engaging students who usually have a hard time in phys.ed. and have found that even push-ups are exciting when swordplay is the reward!

LENGTH: Minimum one hour; maximum of six
NO. OF STUDENTS: Accommodates a maximum of 30 students per group at our studio, and up to 30 students per group at a site of your choice.

Introductory Archery Lesson

Learn to shoot like Robin Hood!

Immerse your students in an archery adventure, with a lesson in your choice between the modern take-down recurve bow, the english longbow, or the asiatic composite bow!

Archery is a fantastic special program to offer as part of your educational classes as a single session or an ongoing series. We combine modern archery instruction with historical bows from Europe and Asia in a way that will excite your students to learn about different cultures and physical skills related to patience, persistence, and strength.

*This lesson can only be offered at our downtown studio.*

LENGTH: Minimum one hour; maximum of six
NO. OF STUDENTS: Accommodates a maximum of 20 students per group at our studio

The History and Use of Swordplay

From the Bronze Age to the First World War, the sword has a rich and diverse history in Europe.

Come to Academie Duello's downtown studio and take a tour through our museum, where students will spend an hour learning about the evolution of the sword from simple Bronze Age knives, to the knightly longsword, to the slender rapier, all the way to the sabres issued to cavalry regiments in the first world war. There will also be a look at the way the fighting manual changed, with reproductions and first edition manuscripts, and a chance to try on steel armour, too!

After a short break, students will take to the floor under the tutelage of a senior instructor and learn some swordplay! The lesson will be an hour long, and will cover the basics of stance, movement, attack, and defence.

LENGTH: Two hours
NO. OF STUDENTS: Accommodates a maximum of 30 students per group at our studio, and up to 30 students per group at a site of your choice.