Capoferro review: 20 November

I have come a very long way as an instructor since October 2008, when I first began teaching at AEMMA. While I knew a fair amount then (not nearly as much as I do now, obviously), I wasn't particularly good at delivering what I knew effectively. In the past few months, however, I've noticed a tremendous spike in my ability to transmit what I know from rapier and sidesword. Everyone who has taken classes with me since June has "gained a few extra levels" much faster than I anticipated, and I'd like to think I'm doing something right. The reason I bring this up at all is because we covered nearly all of the drills yesterday in just under two hours, and I know we can make even more effective use of our time when everyone knows the drills.

Since everyone was more or less a beginner yesterday, we started with the absolute basics (vita thrust, lunge, passata), and gradually worked our way through more and more complicated drills, from the cavazione-opposition drill to the cavazione di tempo drill, all the way to incorporating the scanso della vita. Yeah, I know. For those of you who are reading this is a review, here it is:

1) Warm-ups: 15 vita thrusts, 12 lunges, 10 passate. Then we move on to the measure drill, tessitura (striking during my opponent's motion), and the simple cavazione-opposition drills.

2) The basic approaching drills (attacker "wins"):

a) attacker approaches and strikes via cavazione (defender opposes)

b) " and strikes via opposition (defender performs cavazioni).

3) The intermediate approaching drills (defender wins via interruption):

a) attacker approaches and defender counter-steps in the same time, as the attacker goes to cover himself (either in place or by stepping back) the defender strikes.

b) attacker approaches and defender counter-steps back in the same time, as the attacker gives chase, the defender strikes as soon as the attacker steps into measure.

4) The upper intermediate approaching drills (defender wins by waiting):

a) attacker approaches (defender opposes), and as the attacker thrusts via cavazione, defender counters with an opposition.

b) attacker approaches (defenders performs cavazioni), and as the attacker thrusts via cavazione, defender yields to the pressure, either with a scanso della vita (on the inside) or with a passing step in prima (on the outside).

There are more drills that can be added, but these are the absolute basics. We'll go over these some more over the coming weeks.

Dall'Agocchie review: 17 November

This last study group session was somewhat atypical, in that we divided into two pairs, each working on different drills. With the impending influx of new students on Sunday, this will be the norm:

1) We'll spend the first part of the session all working together on the basics (solo form, changing directions drills, basic defenses)

2) The next part will be split according to level (provocations only for the less experienced, provocations and their counters for those further along)

3) The final part will be dedicated to application, that is to say, practicing provocations against a semi-resisting partner (for non-scholars) - otherwise known as "slow work" - or loose-play (for scholars and above).

Regarding this weekend's workshop, we'll be covering the entire section on the use of the sword in one hand as described in Dall'Agocchie's 1572 treatise. Those wishing to join the study group will learn all they need in the four hours, and those already in the group will get a good re-introduction to the material. The cost is $30, and we'll be going from 1-5 this Sunday.

Back on track!

Now that my free scholler challenge is over and done with, I can get back to posting here regularly. The 31st of October marked the return of Capoferro to the curriculum, as I gave a four hour introduction to Italian rapier to a group of six students. We covered an enormous amount of material in that time, and I think that I can make some serious progress with this group. This time around, I really want to emphasize that we are fighting with rapiers, and not rapier fencing. I think this requires a bit of explanation...

I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last two years about the rapier, and I strongly believe that the sum of the Art is not to be contained within the works of Capoferro, Fabris, Giganti, etc. Rather, these masters described a number of basic actions or plays that are the building blocks of fighting with a rapier, but not the sum. It's not as if the day Fabris published his treatise on fencing everyone forgot how to cut, grapple or fight "dirty", so to speak. My goal, then, is to train everyone to exploit the strengths of the weapon, and make use of everything we learn from Fiore's texts when things are less than ideal, i.e. when the tip and edge are no longer of use.

As for the Dall'Agocchie study group, we are still working hard on Wednesday nights. Over the course of the past few months, we've really made some serious progress in simplifying the system, so much so that a curriculum is not far off in the future. We've worked out all of the defenses, the provocations and their counters, as well as the stretto plays and their counters. All that remains is the paired form, and then the entire first section of his treatise is complete. This next Sunday, I'll be doing an introduction/recap of the system from 1-5, during which we'll be going over everything. With any luck, we can then bring in some new blood to the study group, and have multiple mini-groups working.

Finally, my plan for the new year is to start working on the sword and dagger section from Dall'Agocchie. As it stands, there are three of us who can really work through this right now, and I plan on doing the same thing I had done with single sword: breakdown and perform every defense, learn the provocations and their counters, and go through the paired form. That should take a few months, and then we'll move on to sword and cloak, and then two swords. Things should prove to be exciting in the next couple months. I'll be posting notes from both study groups on Thursdays and Saturdays.

The Dempsey Roll

While the subject line has absolutely nothing to do with this post, (or does it?) I have been obsessing a little bit about Hajime no Ippo, a terrific boxing manga that has reignited my zeal for practice. The fact that my big test is coming up in less than 30 days may also have something to do with that, but in any case, it's been a big inspiration for me to come up with better training methods. Over the course of the past few months, I feel like I've gradually refined the source material, which tends to be a bit scattered at times, to several excellent drills. First, let's talk about defenses.

The great thing about Dall'Agocchie's system is that there are only a handful of actions that repeat themselves over and over again, as provocations, attacks and defenses. In fact, there are really only six defenses, two of which can be used against any attack:

1) Left foot behind the right: Guardia di Testa against a mandritto. (Two tempi)

2) Right foot towards the attack: Guardia d'Entrare against a riverso, imbroccata or stoccata; Guardia di Faccia against a mandritto or stoccata. (One tempo)

3) Right foot to your right, left foot swings around: mezzo mandritto against a mandritto, stoccata or imbroccata. (Two tempi)

4) Left foot to your left: riverso sgualimbro against any attack. (Two tempi)

5) Right foot to your left, followed by a passing step with the left foot: falso manco and second cut against any attack. (Two tempi)

6) Either the footwork described in 5 (right foot to your left), or a withdrawal of the front foot: riverso ridoppio against a mandritto or an imbroccata. (One tempo*)

There are a few specialized defenses (using the offhand, voiding, throwing a cut to the sword hand while leaving, etc.), but these are the absolute essential defenses, and the ones that constantly repeat themselves.

The wonderful thing about Dall'Agocchie's system is that nearly all of his provocations are the same as his defenses. Last night we worked on the following ones in Coda Lunga e Stretta, and in some cases, their counters:

1) Falso dritto (left foot behind the right) followed by a dritto tramazzone (increase of the right foot). The counter is to parry the tramazzone in Guardia di Faccia.

2) Punta riversa (step to his right with either the left or right foot), followed by a mandritto tondo to the head (step to his left with the right foot). The counter is to parry the punta riversa with a falso manco (step to your left with the right foot), and the tondo in Guardia di Faccia.

3) Mezzo mandritto (step to your right with the right foot, left foot swings around) followed by a punta riversa to the chest. The counter is...well, there are a few!

All of the above actions can and will lead to a true on true stretto play, which I would like to expand on our options for next class.

Updates! There must be updates!

The events of the last six weeks have really kept me away from posting any new material in a while; preparing for the start of a new school term, going to ISMAC, and teaching a "graduate" course have all taken their toll, but I feel like I've got everything under wraps. I don't want to write too much here today, because I'll have a lot more to say on Sunday; we've done some very interesting (and productive!) drills in class, and they are paying off in a big way.

For those of you not in the know, as of the 31st of October, I am reinstating the Italian rapier programme at FAC, which will have been on hiatus for just over four months. The reasons for putting it on the shelf are numerous, and the reasons for bringing it back are just as many, so I won't delve into the details. The two main reasons I'm bringing it back are:

1. There is no better way to learn how to thrust properly. It also teaches the student how to maximize his or her efficiency.

2. The notions of gaining and constraining are very explicit, which facilitates a quicker (in my opinion) understanding of fencing theory, and how it can be played with.

I'd love to do more than one class per week, but the fact of the matter is that I'm a full-time PhD student, and I want to finish on time. I'll try to run longer classes on a regular basis, but that's all I can do about that.

Secondly, if rapier is coming back on, that means that something is going away: the Dall'Agocchie study group will only run on Wednesday evenings from 9h00-11h00 (ish). Participation is still by invitation only, as the group assumes a considerable familiarity with the sword in one hand. After three months (maybe longer?) of hard work, I'll finally be ready to bring in a new group of students starting October 17th, when I will be giving a short seminar on Dall'Agocchie's system. If you're new and you want to come out to the study group, this seminar is MANDATORY, no exceptions. More details to follow in the next week or so.

Quick update before ISMAC

I've been pretty terrible about updating this blog in the last month; a lot of things kept me pretty busy, and I just haven't had the time to put anything new and exciting up. I've also been really focused on my Fiore material for the free scholler test in seven weeks, so my mind has been elsewhere. Anyway, enough excuses! Here's what we've covered recently, and where we will be going when I return from Detroit next week:

1) Revising and refining the performance of the "stepping in the guards" drill, aka the solo form. Judging from last night's session, we're all pretty much on the same page, but there are a few details that need to be cleared up:

a) The first two steps (assuming a right-handed fencer) are to the right on a 45 degree angle, and then to the left on a 45 degree angle. We no longer do a full triangle step, as it is not mentioned in the text.

b) On the same note, there are only two directions: 45 to the right, and 45 to the left. I noticed that when people were throwing the first tramazzone, there was a tendency to center up; we should still be facing 45 to the left, both forward and backward.

c) In order to avoid confusion, the two ribbon cuts are now known as "dritto" and "riverso" ribbons; when changing to the left hand, the terms "left" and "right" were quite confusing.

d) All of Dall'Agocchie's guards (with the exception of Testa and Alicorno) are done with the point up, facing either the opponent's flank (the low guards) or his face or chest (the high guards); if the point is down, it should be all the way down, which makes it a larga (wide) guard. Having the sword at the level of stretta but with the point facing down is not the guard.

2) Simplification of all of the most important covers, which are:

a) a cover in Entrare or Faccia with a thrust to the face or chest; useful also against a low attack with a void of the lead foot.

b) a cover in Guardia di Testa moving to the right, a falso manco while moving to the left.

c) a mezzo mandritto moving to the right, a riverso sgualimbro moving to the left.

The footwork for the aforementioned actions is unique, and it is consistent: the only "major" change is when the left foot is forward instead, in which case all the same blade actions are possible, but with a slightly different movement of the feet and body. (We'll cover

a) Faccia and Entrare typically involve a mezza volta of the sword (this is the strongest action) in order to cover, and then a step towards the origin of the attack for the counter. If for some reason the attack turns out to be to the leg, a simple voiding will happen.

b) Guardia di Testa requires you to step behind your right foot with your left, which lines the body up (almost a rapier stance) and removes the target. If the attack is low, Testa just drops lower to intercept.

c) The falso manco is almost always done with a step of your right foot to your left (again, lining your feet up, but not crossing them), and the counter is done with a pass of the left foot on the traverse, i.e. to your left.

d) The mezzo mandritto, curiously, is done with a step to your right with the right foot; the following footwork for the cuts and thrusts is never mentioned in the text.

e) The riverso sgualimbro is always done by stepping to your left with the left foot; the counter is done with a volta stabile to your right (i.e. the riverso ridoppio), and the imbroccata is done with an increase of the right foot.

f) another possible case is the pass back of the lead foot with a tramazzone (dritto or riverso) to the sword arm. This is only done against an imbroccata or stoccata.

3) The changing directions drill, both directions. I had just written everything up for this, but I lost it, so I'll keep this short.

a) all attacks must be made in earnest, except when it's a provocation. You can't defend against a defense, or cheat by anticipating. Everything falls apart.

b) When beating the patient's sword with a ridoppio, thrust an imbroccata while passing to his right with your right foot. This is much safer, and more realistic.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: eighth and ninth sessions

I have learned an important thing this week about bringing any dead system back to life: I have to be very careful to not be over zealous in my interpretations, as I have done with the stepping in the guards drill. For the longest time - at least since I've been at AEMMA, so nearly two years - I have always practiced the first two actions (the left and right ribbons) with a triangle step to finish, reorienting myself to the left and the right, respectively. Upon looking at the language of the text, however, only a traversing step is mentioned; a much shorter action, and more efficient, to be sure.

1. Beginning with the sword at your left side, throw either a falso manco or riverso tondo followed by a riverso sgualimbro, stepping to your right side with the right foot. End in Coda Lunga e Stretta.
2. Throw a falso dritto followed by a mandritto sgualimbro, stepping to your left side with the left foot. End in Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
3. Everything else is the same from here on out.

It was good to stumble a bit, because it helps me to tighten up the system even further, simplifying it. We spent a lot of time during Wednesday's session just moving our feet, not even bothering with the sword. From what we've seen so far, and from what has come out of our free play, knowing how to change direction quickly is of the utmost importance. Two of the ways we have experimented with are the following:

1. Throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot, transition to Guardia di Faccia while stepping behind your right side with the left foot, and then throw a riverso ridoppio while stepping to your left with the right foot, followed by a riverso sgualimbro, stepping to your left with the left foot. To reverse, throw a ridoppio from here without committing the right foot yet, and then throw a mandritto sgualimbro.
2. Throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot, transition to Guardia di Faccia while stepping behind your right side with the left foot, and then throw a riverso sgualimbro while stepping to your left side with the left foot, etc. and so on.

For today's session, I took us through the ringer. We went through all of the attacks and defenses that are done counter-clockwise (Testa and Faccia, with change of direction); for next time, I hope to do some loose play going clockwise. Then we went through the attacks and defenses going clockwise. We have some refining to do, but the basics are there.

We exceeded my expectations today by getting through the first three parts of the paired form, from both the attacker and defender's perspective. I stress again that we just have the basic motions down: we have much refinement to do. That being said, here are the actions in writing:

1. A begins in Coda Lunga e Stretta. B throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head, and A parries in Guardia di Faccia and immediately thrusts to the face. End.
2. The play can continue if B binds in Guardia di Faccia. A then leaves by throwing a riverso sgualimbro while passing back with the right foot, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.
3. B throws a riverso ridoppio and immediately thrusts an imbroccata. A parries with a mezzo mandritto sgualimbro, stepping to his right with the right foot, and counters with a riverso tondo followed by a riverso sgualimbro, ending in Coda Lunga e Stretta.
4. The play can continue if B covers against the tondo in Guardia di Faccia, and the riverso sgualimbro in Guardia di Testa.
5. B immediately throws a mandritto sgualimbro A's right leg. A parries with a falso dritto, while drawing his left foot behind the right, and then counterattacks with two mandritti sgualimbri to the head, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: Quick edit

I nearly forgot to post one of the most important things we learned in yesterday's study group. Although it may seem very obvious - and really, it is - it bears mentioning all the same. When doing the provocation (riverso ridoppio-imbroccata back to Porta di Ferro Stretta), the attacker will make an attack that follows from his guard. If for example, A is in Guardia di Testa, it would make sense to throw a mandritto or riverso sgualimbro (and possibly even a stoccata), as a high guard naturally wants to go downward. Conversely, if A is in Porta di Ferro or another low guard, it would make sense to thrust an imbroccata or stoccata, which are both attacks that go from low to high.

The reason I bring this up is because we found (Aldo in particular) that throwing the wrong attack from X guardia means attacking out of tempo, which is something we never want to do. For example, starting in Porta di Ferro Stretta, it would make little sense for me to go up to Guardia di Testa, and then throw a mandritto sgualimbro. The most expedient attack would be a riverso ridoppio-imbroccata combination.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: seventh session

Another day of training, another post to review what we did today. I think we're on to something with the cutting in a circle drill: in groups of three, one person stands in the middle, and the others practice their cutting in the following way(s):

• Throw the mandritto sgualimbro-Testa combo going counter-clockwise.
• Throw the riverso ridoppio-riverso sgualimbro combo going clockwise.
• Change directions on command.

Next, we isolated the mechanics of changing directions using two drills: long and short version. I like starting with the long version personally because it gets you going a little bit, and then you change, but the short version is equally good because it really drives home how quick the change can be.

• Long version: Throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot, "parry" in Guardia di Testa while stepping behind your right side with the left foot, and throw another mandritto sgualimbro. Now "parry" in Guardia di Faccia while withdrawing the right foot, and then immediately throw a riverso ridoppio while stepping to your left with the right foot. Parry with a riverso sgualimbro, withdraw the right foot and go to throw a riverso ridoppio, but then throw a mandritto sgualimbro while stepping to your right with the right foot. Rinse and repeat.
• Short version: Throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot, "parry" in Guardia di Faccia while stepping behind your right side with the left foot, and then throw a riverso ridoppio while stepping to you left with the right foot. Parry with a riverso sgualimbro, go to throw a riverso ridoppio, and then throw a mandritto sgualimbro while stepping to your right with the right foot. Rinse and repeat.

Solo form: nothing new here. More refinement is needed, just like with everything else. However, we still need to figure out when the right ribbon combination comes in.

Finally, we went through the basic defenses from Porta di Ferro Stretta against all attacks: mandritto, riverso, riverso to the leg, imbroccata and stoccata. Not surprisingly, the defense is identical in all cases, with the "exception" of the riverso to the leg, but not really.

• Against the high line attacks, the foot and bladework is as thus: parry with a riverso sgualimbro while stepping to your left with the left foot, attack the arm with a riverso ridoppio (without stepping), and then thrust an imbroccata to the available target. In short, it's defense-attack-attack.
• Against the low line attack, we do exactly the same thing, except both the riverso sgualimbro (which immediately turns into a riverso ridoppio) are defenses, while only the imbroccata (which is to the face) is the attack. So, we have defe----nse, attack.

Curiously enough (or is it?), we do the exact same thing on the other side, where Guardia di Testa drops low to cover the attack to the leg, and then immediately becomes a mandritto to the head again. Let's keep working this next time.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: sixth session

Although we had a smaller group than usual on Wednesday night, we covered a lot of material, and I think we're finally ready to move on to bigger and better things, namely the paired form (what Dall'Agocchie calls variation of the guards) and the circle drill(s) in both directions. We also were lucky to have Gene film me going through all the guards, demonstrating all the cuts and the solo form for a video study guide, so things are moving along very nicely.

This is what we covered:

1. We started by going through all the guards, which went very quickly this time. We have two low guards with the hand in second (Coda Lunga) and two low guards with the hand in fourth (Porta di Ferro). If we raise the hand to about shoulder height, we have Guardia d'Entrare (second), Guardia di Faccia (fourth). When the arm is raised above the shoulder, we have Guardia d'Alicorno (first) with the point forward, and Guardia di Testa with the point across the the body.
2. Next we walked the circle in both directions; when walking counter-clockwise, we always through a mandritto followed by a parry in Guardia di Testa, and when walking clockwise, it's a riverso sgualimbro followed by an imbroccata. Changing directions is something we need to work on...
3. We finished the solo form! There are a number of refinements to be made, but everyone has it down. We'll keep doing this every class until it is second nature.
4. The counter-clockwise cutting and thrusting drill. We finished basically every part, so starting Saturday, we can actually "play" it. For those who haven't been paying attention, here it is:

• A throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head, B parries in Guardia di Testa and counterattacks with a mandritto sgualimbro.
• A throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head, B parries in Guardia di Faccia, and threatens a thrust to the face: either A does nothing and receives the thrust, or A binds, so B throws goes to the other side and throws a riverso sgualimbro to the face (first strait of the half sword, true to true).
• A throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head, B parries in Guardia di Testa, and transitions to Guardia d'Alicorno. One of three things can happen: 1) A does nothing, and receives an imbroccata to the face. 2) A goes to parry in Guardia d'Entrare, and B throws a mandritto to the head or leg. 3) B performs a mezza volta of the sword and immediately thrusts a stoccata to the face.
• As a counter to either of the above thrusts, A throws a dritto tramazzone to the sword hand while passing back.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: fifth session

While I definitely appreciate having a dozen people on the floor, nothing beats a study group of three people; we get through a lot of material, all present get a lot of practice, and every goes home sore. Today's study group session went very well, and we actually covered a tremendous amount of material, and I was inspired to use different drills to run the group more efficiently.

Footwork

Since all of our drills thus far require that we move in a circle, our basic footwork drills ought to reflect that. Regardless of which direction we're walking in, we will always be moving our left foot along the circle first, followed by a step into the circle with the right foot. We're getting quite good and moving along the circle without thinking about it, now we have to learn to rapidly, correctly change directions. With sword in hand, it looks a little something like this:

1. From Guardia di Testa, throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot.
2. "Parry" in Guardia di Testa while stepping behind with the left foot, followed by another cut with an increase of the right foot. This time, parry in Guardia di Faccia, and throw a riverso ridoppio while stepping to your left with the right foot.
3. Throw a riverso sgualimbro while stepping with your left foot to the left side, and throw a riverso ridoppio to Alicorno without stepping. Now throw a mandritto sgualimbro while stepping to your right with the right foot, and then immediately transition to Guardia di Testa while stepping behind your right side with the left foot. Rinse and repeat.

Wow, that's a whole lot of words to describe a very simple set of actions. With Gene's help, we can put this on video, so everyone can see what I'm talking about. We'll go over this on Wednesday night.

Testa drill

In a sense, we "finished" the Guardia di Testa drill today, as we have covered all of the five attacks that can come from parrying a blow in that guard. I didn't get a chance to put everything together at the end of class due to a lack of time, but that's my goal for next time. Briefly, here's what we did:

1. The classic: mandritto sgualimbro + Guardia di Testa until the rubber on our soles wears off.
2. Guardia di Faccia + punta riversa (thrust in fourth) to the face instead of Guardia di Testa. this can lead to either: an immediate thrust to the face if our partner does nothing, or a riverso to the outside if he or she decides to bind. Again, video evidence will be forthcoming!
3. Transitioning from Guardia di Testa to Alicorno. Again, here we have two options: if our partner does nothing, thrust an imbroccata to the face. If he or she decides to parry, throw a mandritto sgualimbro to the upper or lower body, and immediately recover to Guardia di Testa.
4. Stoccata from Guardia di Testa: perform a mezza volta of the wrist (first to third), which puts your true edge on your partner's flat, and immediately thrust to the face.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: fourth session

Last night's session went very well, and I learned quite a few things from it myself, particularly in regards to where I want this whole thing to go. Concerning my role as a teacher, I realized two very important things:

1) The 90/120 minutes we have twice a week is extremely valuable, and as such, must not be wasted. As much as I love chit-chatting about fencing during class, we all have better things to be doing, namely the drills that we're developing. If you can't focus on what you're doing for longer than 30 seconds, you should be doing something else.

2) Since this is my research project for my free scholar exam later this year, I am taking this time very seriously, and ask of everyone else to do the same: show up ready, train hard, ask questions later. I make myself available during all the breaks and after class, so please, ask away.

Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand, we covered a few new things last night that I know people will need notes for, particularly the full solo form. In the following paragraphs, I will describe all the actions of the solo form, as well as the more advanced version of the Testa drill that some of us got to test out in the last half hour.

The solo form

1. Left ribbon (falso manco/falso riverso tondo + riverso sgualimbro) with a triangle step (tutta volta) with the right foot, facing 45 degrees to your left. Coda Lunga e Stretta.
2. Right ribbon (falso dritto + mandritto sgualimbro) with a triangle step with the left foot, facing 45 degrees to your right. Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
3. Dritto tramazzone with a pass forward, going through Guardia di Testa, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.
4. Left ribbon with a pass forward, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.
5. Riverso ridoppio (rising true edge cut from the left side) to Alicorno + imbroccata (descending thrust in First) with a pass forward, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.
6. Left ribbon with a pass back, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.
7. Dritto tramazzone with a pass back, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.
8. Dritto tramazzone with a pass back, ending in Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
9. Left ribbon with a pass back, ending in Coda Lunga e Stretta.

New variations on the Testa drill

1. A throws a mandritto sgualimbro, B parries in Guardia di Testa and counters with a mandritto, A parries in Guardia di Testa and counters with a mandritto, etc.
2. Instead of parrying in Guardia di Testa, B parries the cut in Guardia di Faccia, and then thrusts to the face with an increase of the right foot.
3. After parrying in Guardia di Testa, B changes to Alicorno and threatens a thrust to the face. Now, A either: does nothing and gets an imbroccata to the face, or pushes the point aside and is struck with a mandritto to the leg, body or head.
4. As above, except B will press down (true edge on flat) on A's sword and thrust a stoccata to the face or chest.
5. In the case of either thrust, A will throw a mandritto tramazzone to the hand while passing back. (Didn't cover this in class, but we'll get to it on Saturday)

In other news, rapier fencing after was fun, though we could use more people next time.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: third session

For today's study group session, I wanted to refine what we have covered so far, without introducing too much new information. We had a pretty good group today, so I actually went a bit farther than I had planned on going, and that's just fine with me.

Basically, we reviewed all eight guards, the different cuts and thrusts, and the first six parts of the solo form. There must be a better way to teach it, because I'm just not seeing it yet! Although I think it is useful to practice with the partner holding a sword for each step, it also takes far too long to cover what is ultimately a simple (but not easy!) exercise. For next Wednesday's session, I think I'll link all the steps together first, having everyone follow me, and then we'll put it into practice.

Today's big leap forward was brought to us by the Guardia di Testa-Mandritto sgualimbro drill. I felt it appropriate to introduce another kind of defense - still using the same footwork - and counterattack, as well as a provocation of sorts, which leads to one of two attacks: an imbroccata to the face and a mandritto to the leg.

1. Begin the drill as normal, and when A goes to throw the mandritto, B will instead parry in Guardia di Faccia while stepping behind his right side with the left foot (i.e. identical footwork to the Testa defense), and immediately thrust to the face with an increase of the right foot.

2. After parrying the mandritto in Guardia di Testa, A will make a threat to B's face by changing to Alicorno. From here, there are two likely outcomes:

a) B goes to parry in Guardia d'Entrare, which allows A to throw a mandritto to the leg. This works because while B is busy defending up high, A is free to attack the entire inside line, either high or low.

b) B does not react, so A simply thrusts an imbroccata to the face.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: first two sessions

As promised, here is a brief review of what we covered in the last two study group sessions. I keep thinking that we haven't done a whole lot, but upon reflecting, we've actually plowed through an enormous amount of material in just under three hours. It's great to have a mix of new and more experienced fencers, as it allows me to constantly fine tune my teaching style, and the presentation of the material. If you have any questions, post a comment, send me an e-mail, or talk to me at AEMMA!

1) Footwork: there are virtually NO differences between what Dall'Agocchie advocate, and what Fiore talks about in his brief discussion of footwork in the section on the sword in two hands. We can however make the following points:

a) The footwork described in Dall'Agocchie's treatise is unambiguously circular, quite similar to Spanish (Destreza) footwork, the main differences being the position of the sword and the stance. It is for this reason that we start out walking along the circle with our partner: two fencers with the unaccompanied sword will be walking in a circle, end of story.

b) Curiously, there is no overt mention of the volte in Dall'Agocchie, i.e. the volta stabile, the mezza volta, and the tutta volta. Upon closer examination of the attacks and defenses, it is clear that they are implicit, but not named or discussed.

2) The guards: all of the guards described by Dall'Agocchie are point forward; all other guards have fallen into disuse by the time he wrote his treatise in 1572. (At least in the Bolognese school) This greatly simplifies the entire system, for there are only eight guards we need to learn: four low, four high.

a) The coda lunga (long tail) family of guards (low): the sword is held outside the right knee, with the hand in second. These two guards - stretta (right foot forward) and alta (left foot forward) - invite an attack to the left side of the body.

b) The porta di ferro (iron gate) family of guards (low): the sword is held inside the right knee, with the hand in fourth. These two guards - stretta (right foot forward) and cinghiale ("wild boar", left foot forward) - invite an attack to the right side of the body.

c) Guardia di Faccia (the face guard) and Guardia d'Entrare (the entry guard) are both high guards. Both guards are formed with the sword at roughly shoulder height; in GdF, the hand is in fourth, and in GdE, the hand is in second.

d) Guardia di Testa (the head guard) and Guardia d'Alicorno (the unicorn guard) are also high guards. In both cases, the hand is in the first position, with only one difference between the two guards: in Alicorno, the point is directed at the opponent, whereas in Testa, the point is to your left side.

3) Cutting and thrusting: the hard part here is learning all of the names, a task which is made all the more difficult due to the fact that every master uses a slightly different nomenclature. To simplify matters, I will only use Dall'Agocchie's terms:

a) Sgualimbro (oblique cut): a downwards blow that cuts from the opponent's shoulder to the opposite knee. For example, if I throw a mandritto sgualimbro, it would cut from my opponent's left shoulder to his right knee.

b) Tondo (circular cut): a horizontal blow that is identical to the mezzano.

c) Falso (oblique cut with the false edge): a rising blow with the false edge that cuts from the opponent's knee to the opposite shoulder. A falso dritto, for example, would go from my opponent's left knee to his right shoulder, while a falso manco would go from his right knee to his left shoulder. These cuts are used primarily for parrying and provoking the opponent.

d) Ridoppio (redoubled cut): a rising blow with the true edge that cuts from the opponent's knee to the opposite shoulder. The mandritto ridoppio does not appear to be a useful cut, as Dall'Agocchie only mentions it once in his entire treatise. The riverso, however, is everywhere, as we shall see.

e) Fendente (cleaving cut): identical to Fiore's definition of a fendente.

f) Tramazzone (a cut that falls heavily): a cut thrown from the wrist; the same as a short compass cut.

g) Stoccata (straight thrust): a thrust with the hand in third.

h) Punta riversa (thrust from the reverse side): a thrust with the hand in fourth.

i) Imbroccata (downward thrust): a thrust with the hand in first.

4) The solo form. After learning the guards and the various blows of the sword, Dall'Agocchie shows his student, a M. Lepido, how to step in the guards, changing from guard to guard. It is in this short form - a total of nine distinct steps - that the student learns a number of valuable combinations, and how the guards work together. We have so far studied the first six steps.

a) With the sword held at your left side, and the right foot slightly in front of your left, throw a riverso tondo (with the false edge) while stepping on the traverse with your right foot, followed by a riverso sgualimbro, bringing your left foot behind the right. You should end in coda lunga e stretta.

b) Now throw a falso dritto while passing on the traverse with your left foot, followed by a mandritto sgualimbro, bringing your right foot behind the left. You should end in cinghiale porta di ferro.

c) Bring the sword to guardia di testa and throw a dritto tramazzone while passing forward with the right foot, ending in porta di ferro stretta.

d) Throw a falso manco together with a riverso sgualimbro while passing forward with the right foot, ending in coda lunga e alta.

e) Throw a riverso ridoppio, coming to guardia d'alicorno, and thrust an imbroccata while passing forward with the right foot, ending in porta di ferro stretta.

f) Throw a falso manco together with a riverso sgualimbro while passing backward with the right foot, ending in coda lunga e alta.

5) Yielding and counterattacking in a circle: the guardia di testa-mandritto sgualimbro drill. One of Dall'Agocchie's major tenets is to always make two defenses in every action: one with the sword, and one with the body. To put this into practice, I have taken one of his defenses and turned it into a continuous drill that will become more complex as we gain experience. A will always begin in guardia di testa, and B in coda lunga e stretta.

a) A throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head with an increase of the right foot, and B parries in guardia di testa, while bringing his left foot behind the right side, effectively taking the target off the line. Repeat on both sides.

b) Once B is comfortable making the defense - which is a yielding parry, NOT a block - he/she will counterattack with a mandritto sgualimbro to the head. Repeat on both sides.

c) A will now parry B's attack in guardia di testa, using the same footwork. Repeat on both sides.

d) After making the parry, A will counterattack with another mandritto sgualimbro to the head. Repeat on both sides.

e) Now the drill continues to a maximum of twelve cuts, then reset.

At the end of this Wednesday's class, I also introduced to a few more advanced students a second kind of defense - a parry in guardia di faccia followed by a punta riversa to the face - that uses the exact same footwork, and can be inserted at specific moments. We'll look at this more closely during the next session, as well as a number of other possibilities, including a change of direction.

I'll leave it here for now, as it has already gotten much longer than I had initially planned. Again, if there are any questions, comments, suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. Until tomorrow.

Re-introduction to Dall'Agocchie

Once again, I find myself posting after a long absence. The pressures of school weighed heavily upon me throughout the month of May, and the two back-to-back vacations to the US and Vancouver made it somewhat difficult to put anything of worth up here. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't just post whatever came to mind, because I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past few weeks about fencing, and I've come to a rather unsurprising conclusion: although I love rapier immensely - it was my introduction to WMA, after all - I'm not up for teaching it. It'd be one thing if I was learning under someone whom I could see once a week and learn, but I've been going for nearly a year without receiving instruction of my own, and it's just not fun anymore; I'm not getting any better, and after my time spent in Vancouver, I'm not sure if rapier is really my calling. I still plan on fencing it as much as I can, but I've just lost the will, which is readily replaced by...

some good old-fashioned Bolognese swordsmanship. I just realized last night how many hundreds (or is it thousands?) of hours I have put into reading, translating and interpreting the various fencing treatises associated with the Bolognese tradition, that I can't picture myself dedicating myself to anything else. I love fencing sword in one hand, and I've been making tremendous progress since I arrived at AEMMA nearly two years ago. If I'm going to leave a mark at my school, I'd be extremely proud to share my knowledge of this, so it can be passed on to future students.

Anyway, enough sentimentality for one post. I taught my first class today as a sort of experiment: I need to present a research project for the rank of free scholar this year, and I want to use empirical data to back it up. What better way than to test my theories in the classroom? While not a rousing success because I forgot my very precise instructions for the schedule at home, I feel I made a lot of progress with the four students who showed up today, so much so that, with a few minor tweaks, I can train people quickly and efficiently.

We started with some basic footwork (increasing and decreasing steps, passing steps, and triangle steps), followed by an introduction to the low guards and the high guards. I may have been a bit pedantic today, but I really wanted to drive home the names of the guards, and how one ought to change among them. For the next twenty minutes or so, we went through the six basic cuts of the system (plus one!): the sgualimbri, the tondi, the falsi, and the tramazzone. Everyone caught on fairly quickly, and by the one-hour mark, only the occasional cut was thrown not under cover. Not too bad.

Next, we worked on the first three parts of the solo form, which is not only useful for teaching cuts in combination, but also how to move in all directions, and how to move from guard to guard. Once again, I was quite pleased with how everyone picked up the first part, so we'll review what we did this week next time, and then introduce the second set of actions.

After about fifteen minutes of the solo form, I thought it would be useful (and it definitely was!) to do the Guardia di Testa drill. (Yeah, I can't think of a better name...any suggestions?) For those of you who don't know what this entails, here it is:

1) Simplest version: A throws a mandritto to B, B parries in Guardia di Testa while stepping behind with the left foot.

2) Version 2.0: A throws a mandritto to B, B parries in Guardia di Testa while stepping behind with the left foot, and then counterattacks with a mandritto while stepping with the right foot.

3) Version 3.0: A throws a mandritto to B, B parries and counterattacks, A parries and counterattacks.

4) Version 4.0: Continuous.

Finally, I wanted to try out the duel in 30 days. First I had everyone practice doing the defense, which proved to be somewhat more difficult than I had imagined. Then, I had them defend against a mandritto, and counter with a riverso ridoppio-imbroccata combo. I didn't get to any of the other possibilities yet; with good planning, I can make it through all five defenses next class.

Quarterstaff and partisan review

I'm going to take a short break from writing on the duel in thirty days to discuss another pet project we've been working on for quite some time: quarterstaff. I first learned some quarterstaff a few years ago when I was still in Vancouver, and I've been fascinated with it ever since. I've read nearly all the source material (which consists of mostly English authors, such as Silver and Swetnam in particular), and had the opportunity to teach some short workshops over the course of the past year, but recently, I've begun to question how precisely some of the actions ought to be optimally done, and how to practice it safely without dressing up like the Stay-puffed Marshmallow Man. This post is an attempt at consolidating what we have been working on in the past couple of months, in the hopes that we can continue to simplify the system to its essence.

Neither Marozzo, nor Manciolino, nor Swetnam - the former two discussing the use of the partisan and partisan and shield, the latter the shortstaff - have much to say about footwork, other than "then you attack with an increase or passing step." But what about defensive footwork? We've found that you can parry a thrust or blow without moving your feet whatsoever; I just wouldn't recommend it if you value your joints. The force of the impact from parrying a good blow, either high or low, is simply too great to withstand more than a couple of times. Due to my continuing research on Dall'Agocchie's system, which belongs to the same tradition as Marozzo and Manciolino, I thought it would make sense if we make two defenses in one: one with the weapon, one with the body/feet. In other words, every parry is made with a circular step: if the right hand and foot are forward, you will parry with a step to the right side, and if the left hand and foot are forward, the parry will be accompanied with a step to the left. Here are some of the reasons why I think this is a valid interpretation:

1) From personal experience, the parry is mechanically easier to make, and is much easier on the joints.
2) Stepping to either the left or right against any possible attack sets you up for an immediate counterattack to a now very open line. This was not always the case with a static parry.
3) The partisan and rotella sections in Manciolino's and Marozzo's books are full of this kind of footwork, and Dall'Agocchie - although speaking of a different weapon - states in no unclear terms that every parry should take you opposite the blow.

I have much more to say on this topic, but I'd like to have the texts at my fingertips so I can point to specific examples, as well as elaborate on the "best" way to perform certain actions, notably the blows, the false plays, and the defenses against the false plays, in particular the shuttle thrust in reverse, which as we found out last night is very effective.

Dueling in thirty days: day seven

To bring the first week to a close, I thought it would be useful to summarize what we've discovered, and where we will need to be going next. In particular, I've read through the treatise again, and I've found a number of places (in the section on defenses, provocations and their counters, plays of the half sword) where the exact action - with or without footwork - is described. Unless the words of the text themselves change, I don't foresee this interpretation changing much, if at all.

The footwork

Dall'Agocchie is very clear concerning the movements of the feet in defending with a riverso sgualimbro, and striking with an imbroccata: against all five attacks (he does not include a mandritto to the leg or a riverso ridoppio, perhaps because they would be unlikely attacks against this guard), we parry with a riverso sgualimbro (a cut that goes from the right shoulder to the left hip) with a step to the enemy's right side with the left foot, do a mezza volta of the wrist (i.e. a riverso ridoppio), and thrust an imbroccata to the appropriate target (face, chest or flank) with an increase of the right foot towards the enemy. The only exception to this rule is not in the footwork, but in the parry: the riverso to the leg must be parried with a riverso ridoppio, as the sgualimbro does not cover low.

Why the riverso ridoppio?

I was initially skeptical of putting in a seemingly extra motion when there was no explicit mention of one in the final section of the third day of dialogues, but after reading and typing up an updated version of all of the defenses, provocations and their counters, I found a number of instances - no less than five - that describe this exact action: parry with a riverso sgualimbro, do a mezza volta of the wrist, which is another way of saying throw a riverso ridoppio, and thrust an imbroccata to the available target. Here are two additional reasons for this interpretation, which are drawn entirely from performing the action numerous times:

1) The person thrusting the imbroccata by way of the riverso ridoppio is completely covered throughout the entire action.

2) When done correctly, the action is very fluid, which is unlike the initial interpretation, which felt an awful lot like "flinging" the arm forward.

The simplest version of the drill

Finally, I'd like to put up the absolute simplest version of the drill, which in theory could last forever, provided neither fencer makes a mistake. We've found that we really only need to work on finding places to thrust the stoccata, and throw a mandritto or riverso to the leg; the riverso sgualimbro and imbroccata are automatic.

1) A thrusts an imbroccata with an increase of the right foot.

2) B parries with a riverso sgualimbro, stepping to A's right with the left foot, and then immediately throws a riverso ridoppio to Alicorno, and goes to thrust an imbroccata with an increase of the right foot towards A.

3) A parries with a riverso sgualimbro, stepping to B's right with the left foot, etc.

As I said earlier, our current plan is to flesh out this drill by adding in all of the attacks "at random" - kind of a misnomer, as there are specific instances where each attack is appropriate - and then eventually include different kinds of defenses, which involve different footwork: a falso manco, Guardia d'Entrare, cut to the hand while passing back, etc. Only twenty-three more days to go!

Dueling in thirty days: day six

Lo and behold, several hours later I come back with day six of the Bolognese experiment. The two of us were fencing sword and buckler (I.33) in Christie Pitts today down at Bloor and Christie, but we always begin with 10-20 minutes of going over the sidesword plays. I am now entirely convinced that the way we are currently doing it is correct, as we are completely covered - by distance and by blade placement - the entire time. Left to the side, right foot towards the opponent.

To change things up a little bit today, Dall'Agocchie mentions earlier in his book the various defenses (of which there are really only five; more on this later) from all of the guards against all likely attacks. I noticed while reading through the defenses yesterday that the same blows - mandritto, riverso, imbroccata and stoccata - can all be parried with a falso manco (a deflection) followed immediately by either a mandritto sgualimbro, or a riverso sgualimbro (i.e. a left ribbon). I've done the former numerous times in the normal AEMMA class during drills and free-fencing time, but only against attacks from the right side. So we tried it out, and a number of interesting things came out of it.

1) The footwork is very clearly the following: parry with the falso manco while stepping to his right side with your right foot, and then throw either a riverso or mandritto sgualimbro while stepping with the left foot. This is the only way to strike the targets (head or face) that Dall'Agocchie explicitly states on a number of occasions.

2) In some instances, he gives the option of either mandritto or sgualimbro, but in others, only one or the other is available. I initially believed this to be a simple omission on his part; of course you can do both, because I mentioned it ten pages ago! But when we tried doing both indiscriminately, we found that the mandritto sgualimbro is not always a reliable follow-on; this depends entirely on the nature of the attack the opponent is giving.

3) Curiously, this action does not correspond with the left ribbon described in the solo form in terms of feet; the solo form has the fencer either stepping to his right, forward or backward, but not to his left. The more I think about it, the more I question if there really is a higher purpose for the solo form, or if it is meant purely for teaching footwork.

Once we get really good at performing both kinds of defenses with the respective foot motions, we should be able to do the drill in a circle, alternating between parrying with the true edge and the false edge.

Tomorrow's post will be a synthesis of what I've talked about in the first six days; we've gone a few different places while interpreting the text, some more useful than others. Every seventh post, therefore, will present the most updated understanding of the defenses and counter-attacks that come from Porta di Ferro Stretta, as well as progress made in creating a drill that incorporates all the attacks at random.

Dueling in thirty days: day five

Due in no small part to my negligence yesterday, days five and six will both be posted today; thankfully, I actually have things to say about what we've been doing. Yesterday, I thought it would be useful for us to work our way through Dall'Agocchie's solo form (stepping in the guards) before we started going through the defenses from Porta di Ferro Stretta. The reason for this is two-fold:

1) After a very brief discussion (one sentence) of the first chief skill - knowing which edge is true and which is false - footwork is really the first topic to which Dall'Agocchie dedicates a large amount of ink. And as he says, all fencers must be equally comfortable moving in any direction, be it forward, backward, on the traverse, etc.

2) The action we have been playing with for the past few days - a riverso sgualimbro followed immediately by a riverso ridoppio to an imbroccata - is described as the last forward moving action in the sequence. From Coda Lunga e Alta, the fencer throws a riverso ridoppio to Alicorno, and passes with an imbroccata, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.

To make this sound a bit less nebulous, I've broken down the steps for the solo form below; since I've been doing this for the past several years, it all makes perfect sense to me, but if the language is somewhat unclear, please let me know and I'll do my best to clear up the language.

1) Beginning with the feet together, the right foot slightly ahead of the left, and with the sword in its sheath (real or imaginary), throw a falso manco or falso riverso tondo while stepping on the traverse with your right foot, followed by a riverso sgualimbro as the left foot lands, ending in Coda Lunga Stretta. I call this combination a left or reverse ribbon for short.

2) Now throw a falso dritto while stepping on the traverse with the left foot, followed by a mandritto sgualimbro as the right foot lands, ending in Cinghiale Porta di Ferro. I call this combination a right ribbon for short.

3) Throw a dritto tramazzone with a pass forward of the right foot, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.

4) Throw a left ribbon while passing forward with the left foot, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.

5) Throw a riverso ridoppio to Alicorno, and then pass forward and thrust an imbroccata, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta. (Alternately, throw the riverso ridoppio with the pass forward, and thrust the imbroccata without moving the feet. I personally find the first version more fluid.)

6) Throw a left ribbon while passing back with the right foot, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.

7) Throw a dritto tramazzone while passing back with the left foot, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.

8) Throw another dritto tramazzone while passing back with the right foot, ending in Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.

9) Finally, throw a left ribbon while passing back with the left foot, ending in Coda Lunga Stretta.

A video of this will be up on Saturday when I have access to the salle again.

Dueling in thirty days: day four

The more I practice the motion, the more it feels natural; a riverso sgualimbro with a step along the circle, followed by a riverso ridoppio to Alicorno, and an imbroccata to the nearest available target with an increase of the right foot. I'm starting to see why Dall'Agocchie was so quick to recommend this very simple action as a good starting point for the non-fencer - you can cover against every attack, and immediately have a counterattack available - but it also apparent why he says it is not enough. Although with practice, the action should be one continuous motion, there is a moment - a tempo - for the opponent to parry. Thankfully, the chances of the opponent over-parrying are particularly high, which leads to a number of interesting plays.

I found it somewhat odd that the Bolognese fencing masters, with the exception of Marozzo in his chapter on dagger defenses, rarely mention presas; from what I've been learning at AEMMA for the past two years, entries happen all the time with swords. So why is it that Dall'Agocchie only mentions four instances of presas? Is it indicative of the style of fencing? That is to say, was grappling strongly frowned upon during the 16th century? Or was it perhaps because of the formal duel setting? Until I read a book that deals specifically with the Italian duel of the Renaissance, my questions will remain unanswered. However, after only a few repetitions of the circle drill, it is quite obvious where the concluding play of the paired form (Variation of the guards) comes in.

1) A provokes by thrusting an imbroccata from Alicorno.

2) B throws any blow.

3) A parries with a riverso sgualimbro while stepping to the left, throws the riverso ridoppio to thrust an imbroccata with an increase of the right foot.

4) B parries with his own riverso sgualimbro (exact same footwork), and throws his own riverso ridoppio somewhat wide.

5) A immediately yields to Guardia di Testa, seizes B's sword hand with the left hand, and cuts a mandritto to either the head or leg.

I don't want to get to far off topic here; it suffices to say that the entire art - every parry, counterattack, half sword technique, etc. - can come directly from Dall'Agocchie's section on how to defend oneself well using only two guards. All of this is purely hypothesis, of course, but one which I wholeheartedly embrace.

Dueling in thirty days: day three

Tonight was free fencing night, so we didn't get a chance to do much with the drill, unfortunately. However, the three of us spent about 15 minutes after class working through each defense in isolation, and then walking in a circle. I'm becoming more and more convinced that the ridoppio/imbroccata combination is the way to go for two reasons:

1) This is the way it is described in the solo form described during the first day of Dall'Agocchie's treatise. (Coda Lunga + riverso ridoppio + imbroccata)
2) Performing the imbroccata after a ridoppio provides excellent cover, and almost always gives a bonus cut to the sword arm.

Tomorrow, we'll be working on refining the circle drill, and integrating all five of the attacks - and all one defense - without warning. The stoccata seems to me to be very appropriate, as it is specifically directed to the face, which, when doing the drill, is the only available target! This Dall'Agocchie was one crafty guy...Finally, depending on what kind of energy the opponent gives during the parry (hard forward, weak, etc.), the presa described in the paired form comes out very readily in a number of situations; in this specific case, against a wide-spaced riverso ridoppio. More results to be posted tomorrow.

Dueling in thirty days: day two

We continued working on the Porta di Ferro Stretta defenses today after class, and another, interesting possibility has been raised: that the imbroccata is not done by changing to Alicorno after the parry, but via a riverso ridoppio, an action which makes parrying all the attacks much easier and more consistent. This version works as follows:

1) A attacks B with either thrust or cut.

2) B parries with a riverso sgualimbro while stepping with the left foot, and continues directly into a riverso ridoppio (thereby covering all possible lines of attack) without stepping. Finally, B thrusts an imbroccata to the appropriate target with an increase of the right foot.

From the hour or so we worked on the two variations, this one definitely seemed to be safer, and provided better results; I could see it being done in almost one tempo if done correctly. It alters the continuous drill somewhat, so we still need to perfect the mechanics of it, but it promises to bear good fruit.

An aside: my old (six years this year!) camera is operational once again, so video and pictures will be on the way. I think it would be particularly useful if there were pictures of the beginning, middle, and end of the defense-counter against all attacks, as well as a video of the same.

Dueling in thirty days: day one

So begins our serious study of Dall'Agocchie's section on how to survive a duel in thirty days, using two guards only: Guardia d'Alicorno (Unicorn) and Porta di Ferro Stretta (Iron Gate). The reason for teaching only these two guards is manifold:

1) You only have to defend your right side, as the left part of the body is covered by distance.

2) You can parry any blow to your right with a riverso (sgualimbro or ridoppio, depending on the circumstance), and immediately counterattack with an imbroccata.

3) With practice, this combination can be done in almost one tempo.

4) Through our own experiences, we've discovered that by doing the drill in its entirety, it makes a pretty incredible drill.

First of all, we have the parry-counterattack with its very specific footwork. Regardless of the attack, the footwork is always the same: step to your left with the left foot, and then advance with the right foot. This is a constant, as is the motions of the blade itself: the step of the left foot is led by a riverso (i.e. the parry), and the step of the right foot corresponds to the thrusting of the imbroccata.

The riverso cut, when performed correctly, serves as a beat to the opponent's sword, an action which is greatly aided by the movement of the left foot. With the opponent's sword temporarily out of commission, the defender is free to thrust the imbroccata to any number of targets, but primarily the face, the chest, and the flank.

With these basic ideas in mind, let's look at the defenses in sequence, and then put them all together. Note that all of these actions begin with A provoking an attack by thrusting an imbroccata without moving the front foot. It is during the transition from Alicorno to Porta di Ferro Stretta that B launches an attack. Note also that B always attacks with an increase of the right foot, and A always performs the same footwork.

1. B throws a mandritto to the head: A parries with a riverso sgualimbro, and then thrusts an imbroccata to the chest.

2. B throws a riverso to the head: A parries with a riverso sgualimbro, and then thrusts an imbroccata to the flank.

3. B throws a riverso to the leg: A parries with a riverso ridoppio, and then thrusts an imbroccata to the face.

4. B thrusts an imbroccata: A parries with a riverso sgualimbro, and then thrusts an imbroccata to the chest.

5. B thrusts a stoccata to the face: A parries with a riverso sgualimbro, and then thrusts an imbroccata to the flank.

As we went through these drills today, we realized that A and B can counter each other by doing the same action. In other words, we can circle around each other endlessly until: 1) one of us makes a mistake, or 2) one of us over-parries, which leads most notably to an entry, or presa. (We'll return to this as the month goes by.) So, we devised two basic drills that train these motions, which again can be done against all attacks.

Drill one

1. A makes a provocation in Alicorno, and changes to Porta di Ferro Stretta.

2. B throws a mandritto or riverso sgualimbro to the head.

3. A parries the attack with a riverso sgualimbro while stepping to his left, and goes to thrust an imbroccata while stepping with the right foot.

4. If B attacked initially with an increase of the right foot, he can parry with a riverso sgualimbro while stepping to his left (now both fencers are going clockwise), and then thrust an imbroccata an imbroccata while stepping with the right foot. Continue ad nauseam.

Drill two

1. This drills works exactly the same way, except on the third attack,

2. B throws a riverso to the leg, which prompts the appropriate response (a riverso ridoppio followed by an imbroccata to the face) from A. B will succeed in parrying, and A will throw a riverso to the leg on his third attack, and so on.

I need to find the charger for my camera so I can film the drill to put up here. More insights to follow tomorrow evening.

Dall'Agocchie study group: quick edit

After further consideration, I think it will be more beneficial to focus on the solo form, and the two other, shorter paired forms that Dall'Agocchie places at the end of his section on the unaccompanied sword. Lepido Ranieri, the young Italian noble with whom Dall'Agocchie is conversing, wants to know how someone who has never picked up a sword before would prepare himself for a duel in thirty days. Dall'Agocchie replies that he would train him in two guards - porta di ferro stretta and guardia d'alicorno - parrying always with the true edge, and striking via imbroccata. If he had more time, he would also instruct the student in the use of coda lunga stretta, which allows for a number of single tempo parry-counterattacks.

So rather than jump into the deep end of the pool right away, we'll begin by defeating attacks from all angles from the two guards mentioned above. Once we achieve proficiency in the two guards, we can proceed to working on what Dall'Agocchie calls the variation of the guards. After that, we will examine the provocations from all the guards, as well as the half sword plays, both true and false.

Dall'Agocchie study group

After a rather long break from working through Dall'Agocchie's unaccompanied sword due to teaching commitments for the past semester, it is time to continue our exploration of his paired form. Although relatively short, lasting less than fifteen seconds when performed at average speed, I believe it contains all the tools necessary for understanding his entire system. Both fencers will go through all eight guards described by Dall'Agocchie at least once, and will perform all the cuts and thrusts, in addition to concluding with an entry.

Starting this Wednesday, from 6-7pm, we will be going over both the solo form - designed for learning the guards, footwork and movements of the sword - and the paired form, from the perspective of both the attacker and the defender. As we become more skilled at both parts, we can begin to improvise by mixing in other possible defenses, of which there are up to six, depending on the nature of the attack. My ultimate goal is to use these two forms to quickly and effectively teach the sword alone, and with dagger or cloak. More details and results to follow.

Destreza seminar recap

It would seem that school has been keeping me much busier than I could have possibly thought. I'm glad I only have to go through the PhD qualifying exams once. Only one more week, and then my life goes back to normal! Anyway, enough about me; last weekend (April 17th and 18th), AEMMA had the pleasure to host Maestro Ramon Martinez from the Martinez Academy in New York City for a seminar on the Spanish school of swordsmanship, also known as "La Verdadera Destreza." In the following paragraphs, I will give a brief description of the system, as well as some of the concepts and drills that we learned over the course of the two days.

The Spanish school of swordsmanship can be traced back to a 16th century lawyer named Don Jeronimo Sanchez de Carranza, who wrote his fencing treatise De la Filosofía de las Armas y de su Destreza y la Aggression y Defensa Cristiana in 1569. It appears, however, that his work was actually a compendium of techniques and concepts that he had collected throughout his lifetime. His fencing method remained relatively unchanged for nearly three hundred years, and was adapted for use with a number of weapons, including the sidesword, rapier, and sabre, as well as with accompanying weapons (dagger, cloak, and buckler).

Maestro Martinez introduced us to some of the fundamental concepts of Destreza, which started with us going over the footwork of the system. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it bears a remarkable similarity to what we already do with Fiore, the only difference being the considerable focus on circular movement. One of the drills we did, for example, began with two fencers standing directly opposite each other. A's job was to walk clockwise around the circle, with the intention of getting to the outside of B; B's role is to maintain the diameter of the circle. We did a number of drills that involved similar actions (changing direction, stealing the lead, stealing the lead by changing direction, and so on), both with and without the sword.

Building on the previous drills, we then looked at the various blade engagements, or atajos. More so than in Italian rapier, attacks to all four quadrants (outside high and low, inside high and low) are all equally possible, and rely on taking the appropriate step: when making the atajo to the outside, you step to your left, and you step to your left when making the atajo to the inside. Since this is not something I can really describe, I'll need to post some video on how this is done. (Will be up soon, I promise!) Once we got a firm grasp of how the basic blade engagements work, we then went on to practice cambio, which is analogous to the Italian cavazione (both over and under the sword, depending on the position of the sword). I'll continue with my report tomorrow.

After a long break...

The last few months have proven more challenging for me than I had initially thought, and as such, I have had little time to dedicate to the blog. As of this week, my trials and tribulations are finally over! And so the blogging shall continue.

Starting in April, I'll be posting a large amount of material that I've been working on over the past few months, specifically the sidesword material that I've been working on with Aldo, the partisan/partisan and shield plays I've interpreted, and a large quantity of drills we've been working on in rapier. I really want to make the push towards rapier and dagger, so that's where my focus is going to be for the next couple of months.

Rapier training for the next month

Another month, another focus. I've been playing around with a few different ideas in class recently, and I've been very pleased with the results they have been bringing. As I promised at the end of 2009, we're going to be spending a fair amount of time working with feints and the plates of Capoferro during the next two months, after which we'll have a general exam at the beginning of April before Maestro Martinez's seminar on Destreza towards the end of the month. (To which I strongly recommend everyone goes...).

In terms of new drills, there's little new technical material to introduce - we've really covered every useful thing to be done with the unaccompanied sword - so we're moving on to some more tactical-based drills. Specifically, I wanted to examine three scenarios: 1) the patient steps in with the initial guadagnare and thus becomes the agent; 2) the appropriate use of the passing lunge; 3) deviating from the linea retta, i.e. looking at the plates.

Finally, much more fencing. I continue to enjoy the agent/patient drills we've been working on, and now I'd like to move into some more "extreme" scenarios: endurance, having already been struck, Highlander. Let's see how it all works out on Wednesday night!

Musings on Dall'Agocchie, part 1

Over the past several months, I've spent a lot of time reading, re-reading, interpreting and re-interpreting Giovanni Dall'Agocchie's 1572 treatise, and I've come to some very interesting conclusions, enlightening even. Despite the fact that Dall'Agocchie spends roughly 50 pages on describing the play of the unaccompanied sword, the actions he describes - as either the attacker or the defender - add up to a dozen at most. The thing I find most interesting is that the defenses are almost identical to the provocations he mentions, and a majority of the actions at the half sword are contained in the provocation section as well. In other words, his system is a very tight, endlessly looping circle, like any other system, I suppose.

The seven most important actions Dall'Agocchie describes are as follows:

1) Single time counter thrust: a change to either guardia d'entrare or guardia di faccia, followed by a thrust to the nearest target, which is usually the chest or the face.

2) Deflection with the false edge: a parry made with either a falso dritto (coda lunga) or a falso manco (porta di ferro), followed by either cut or thrust, depending on the side.

3) Deflection with the true edge: a parry made with either a mandritto sgualimbro (coda lunga) or a riverso sgualimbro (porta di ferro), followed by either thrust or cut.

4) Yielding parry: a parry made in guardia di testa (on both sides), followed immediately by a cut, or a thrust on the dritto side.

5) Leg void: against any attack to the leg, the lead leg is voided together with a thrust to the face.

6) Body void/feinted parry: the defender makes as if to parry in one of the high guards, but stops short, and immediately counterattacks.

7) Body void with attack to hand: the defender passes back during a thrust, and throws a blow to the exposed hand/arm of the attacker.

In the next post, I'll talk a little bit more about the footwork involved with all of these defenses, as it varies subtly for each one (single vs. two vs. half).

Workshop review: 17 January

Today I gave a short (just under three hours) workshop on the Capoferro's 1610 rapier treatise. Although it was aimed primarily at new students, there was plenty of material for more regular students to work on. Despite the brevity of the workshop, we managed to cover a lot of things; although we didn't get to the piegatura della vita as a final response for either the agent or the patient, we went through all four intelligent responses to guadagnare: cavazione di tempo, change of guard di tempo (there has to be a better name for that!), cut to the sword via cavazione, and the half-cavazione. Overall, it was a success.

Where do we want to go from here? We'll continue refining our sensitivity through the more complex fencing drills I've introduced in the past couple of weeks, and then (or perhaps concurrently) I'd like to examine some of the feints, and how they affect the fight. I've been thinking specifically about feints that allow the agent to strike underneath the sword, as well as using the half-cavazione as the aggressor; difficult, but I've witnessed it numerous times. After that, it's time to look at the body voids and the plates; by the end of April, we should be good to go on rapier and dagger after the mass examination. More details on that to follow.

Class review: more drills

After teaching today's class, which went very well, in my humble opinion, I realized that there is another way to categorize the drills we do: drills where the attacker wins, drills where the defender wins, and drills where the attacker wins again. In other words, the drills go from the most simple to the most complex.

Simple drills in which the attacker wins:

1) Spiral drill, version 1: the attacker thrusts via a contra-cavazione because the defender simply goes to cover himself.

2) Spiral drill, version 2: the attacker thrusts via a change of guard (i.e. opposition) because the defender simply covers himself without threatening. With weapons of equal length, this must be done earlier in the tempo, whereas with weapons of varying lengths, the fencer with the shorter blade will almost always do this version, whereas the fencer with the longer blade will perform the first action mentioned above.

3) Spiral drill, version 3: the attacker cuts to the blade in order to create motion from stillness, and then does one of three things -

a) follows immediately with a falso dritto or falso manco with a step to the face or throat. It is important that the hilt stays low to cover a flailing action from the defender.

b) if the defender cuts back up with the sword, the attacker will perform a cavazione with a change of guard and thrust to the open target.

c) if the defender performs a cavazione to cover, the attacker will exchange guards and thrust to the open target.

Complex drills in which the defender wins:

1) Cavazione di tempo: can be done against actions 1,2 or 3 mentioned above.

2) Exchange of guard di tempo: can also be done against actions 1,2 or 3 mentioned above.

3) Cavazione with a cut to the sword: can be done against actions 1,2 or 3 mentioned above. As with action 3, the ultimate attack depends upon the attacker's follow-up action.

4) Half-cavazione: can be done against actions 1,2 or 3 mentioned above.

5) Ceding of the vita: performed against the cut mentioned in part a of the third version of the spiral drill. The defender cedes the vita together and thrusts to the open target.

Most complex drills in which the attacker wins:

1) Ceding of the vita: can be done against complex actions 1 and 2 of the defender.

a) if the defender performs a cavazione di tempo, the attacker will cede the vita and thrust in the same guard.

b) if the defender performs an exchange of guard di tempo, the attacker will cede the vita and peform a cavazione together with a change of guard.

2) Ceding of the vita against the cut: identical to action 5 mentioned in the complex drills.

The only thing we need to add now are strikes below the sword (covered in the coming weeks), voids of the body, and what to do against an unorthodox fencer. Well, maybe the phrasing on that was a bit unjust; "only" implies that this will take but a short while, when in reality we will be working on and refining this actions over the course of the next couple of years.

Class review: new curriculum drills

The principles underlying fencing have become crystal-clear to me over the past month or so. Though I would not go so far as to say that I'm great at it - I still need much more practice to get to where I need to be - I know exactly how to get there. I've added to and refined somewhat the drills that Jared gave to us in September, and here is what class looks like now: a combination of "technique" drills, more stressful versions of those drills, and fencing drills.

Technique drills:

1) Cavazione di tempo, simple version: both fencers begin in terza with the tips crossed, and the agent will step forward to stringere. In that time, the patient will perform a cavazione and thrust to the opposite side. As in every other drill, the timing on this is of the utmost importance.

2) Ceding the vita, simple version: both fencers begin in terza with the tips crossed, and the agent will again step forward to stringere, paying close attention to the length of the initial step. As the patient performs the cavazione di tempo, the agent will cede the vita, allowing a mini-cavazione and a thrust in contratempo.

3) Perfect spiral, simple version: from out of measure, the agent makes a threat to the inside or the outside, which the patient will cover. During the patient's action, the agent will perform a cavazione while stepping forward. The patient will perform a cavazione to make the cover, and during that time, the offender will perform a contra-cavazione thrust.

4) Perfect spiral with cavazione di tempo: as above, only the patient will perform a cavazione di tempo and thrust during the agent's first cavazione.

5) Perfect spiral with opposition: as above, only the patient will perform an exchange of guard (opposition) during the opponent's first cavazione, and immediately thrust.

6) Perfect spiral, advanced version: as above, only during the patient's cavazione di tempo, the attacker will cede the vita and strike via a mini-cavazione to the new opening.

7) Imperfect spiral, simple version: as the perfect spiral, only the agent will perform an exchange of guard (from 4th to 2nd, or 2nd to 4th) during the patient's cavazione.

8) Imperfect spiral with cavazione di tempo: identical to number 4.

9) Imperfect spiral with opposition: identical to number 5.

10) Imperfect spiral, advanced version: as number 6, only during the patient's exchange of guard, the agent will perform a ceding of the vita and thrust via a change of guard.

Stress drills:

1) Increase the pace of any of the above drills. (This doesn't mean "go blindingly fast"; it simply means to lessen the time taken between actions.)

2) Vary the tempo of the action. (Again, this doesn't mean "go blindingly fast"; in this case we attempt to eliminate any foreknowledge of the action.)

3) Begin from a weak position, i.e. with the patient stringered.

Fencing drills:

1) Agent/patient, version 1: for X minutes, one fencer is the agente, and the other the patient. During that time, the agente will move in to strike the patient, and will only do so if he has "eyes" for what the patient is doing. No cutting. A constant motion drill.

2) Agent/patient, version 2: as above, only now cutting is also in. A motion and stillness drill.

3) 3 hits: as the above two drills, only this time, the agent/patient element is eliminated. This can be done with either thrusts only, or with cuts as well.

There are many more drills I'd like to put in here, but I'll leave it here for now. More to follow this weekend!