Forza e Destrezza

Updates, updates, updates...

2011-08-23T23:48:00.004-04:00

I haven't touched this blog in almost six months, and it's time to get back to adding more information here. We've been making steady progress at AEMMA in the last few months regarding rapier and spada da lato, and there are plenty of things to be posted in the coming weeks.

I have yet to decide where I will post the Anonymous Bolognese translation, and I'm thinking that once it is done, some of the more interesting parts may go here. But we shall see...

Review of Wednesday's material: Destreza

2011-03-04T16:38:00.002-05:00

In our ever-continuing quest for being competent at many different things, we spent Wednesday night reviewing the Spanish material we touched on last week, and added a whole new batch of concepts and actions to the mix, culminating in some very nice free fencing, in spite of everyone's exhaustion. I'd like to review some of the key concepts that we covered, and I hope to expand upon some of the previous definitions and explanations given. I will give Italian equivalents where possible.

1) the four hand positions: uñas afuera (nails out - prima), uñas abajo (nails down - seconda), uñas adentro (nails in - terza), uñas arriba (nails up - quarta).
2) the five attacks: medio tajo (half cut - mandritto sgualimbro), medio revés (half reverse - riverso sgualimbro), tajo (cut - mandritto tondo), revés (reverse - riverso tondo) and estocada (thrust - stoccata).
3) atajo - this approximately means "gaining the sword" or "guadagnare", in Italian. Essentially, A pre-parries B's attack by placing his sword over B's (more of A's strong on more of B's weak?), and consequently forces B to make more actions or movements in order to strike A. This should be accompanied by the appropriate footwork.
4) Movimientos (movements - no true equivalent in Italian). There are six in Spanish, which can be combined in various ways: natural (natural, or downward), violento (violent, or upward), accidental (accidental, or forward), extraño (strange, or backward), de remiso (lateral, away from centreline), de reducción (lateral, toward the centreline). An estocada is formed of only one movement - accidental - whereas a cut can be made of up to three.
5) compases (footwork). There are essentially three types: linear (forward, backward, lateral), circular (along the circle), and angular (into the circle).
6) desvio (derailment). This involves parrying the opponent's attack by stepping offline, turning the true edge (in all but the lower outside line, where the false edge could work), striking the opponent at the same time. This is analogous to the "waiting" counters in Italian rapier, i.e. I wait until my opponent attacks to counter him.
7) transport (need to find the Spanish term form for this...). Following an atajo, I move my opponent's blade to the opposite quandrant, e.g. from high inside to low outside, low inside to high outside, etc.
8) cambio de atajo (literally, change of atajo, analogous to a cavazione).
9) expulsion (again, need to find the Spanish term). Instead of sticking to the opponent's blade following a transport, the blade is driven far offline with a push through the weapon.

We did pretty good looking at and applying these actions at the end of the night. I hope to increase the difficulty a little bit for next time, and add some more actions to the mix.

Review: 27 February

2011-02-27T19:12:00.002-05:00

We got through a lot of material in today's rapier class, and everyone was looking pretty good towards, albeit a bit tired. Here's a list of what we did today for both warm-ups and drills, so next time we can hit the floor running:

1) Basic footwork, both leads.

2) Thrusts at all ranges (stretta, larga, larghissima)

3) Chasing the target (with both gathering and passing steps)

4) Tessitura, version 1

5) Approaching drills (all cavazione, cavazione w/oppostion, all opposition, mixed)

6) Defense drills:

a) Countering during the opponent's attack (w/opposition or cavazione)

b) Attacking during the opponent's step forward (cavazione di tempo)

c) Interrupting the attacker's approach with a counter step

7) Attacker/defender drill

8) Seizing the initiative/mostly free fencing (solo work with me)

I'd like to do a lot more of the last drill in the coming weeks, so we can grind out attacks done out of tempo.

Destreza: a reintroduction to Spanish swordsmanship

2011-02-24T21:56:00.004-05:00

In the past week, I have managed to confirm that Maestro Ramón Martinez, of the Martinez Academy in New York, will be giving a weekend-long workshop at the Fighting Arts Collective on May 14th and 15th. For anyone who was present last year, we'll be picking up right where we left off, which is pretty deep into the system! To ensure that everyone is ready for the workshop - and for my own reasons - I'll be replacing the Dall'Agocchie study group with a Spanish swordsmanship study group from 9-11 on Wednesday evenings. We'll be looking at the system from the ground up, get plenty of fencing practice in, and (I hope!) get some Spanish vs. Italian action going.

So to better prepare everyone for the workshop, it will definitely be worth it to go over some of the basic fencing terminology employed by the Spanish fencing masters, so we're all on the same page.

1. Afirmarse: literally, "to steady oneself." The upright position in which the fencer will stand.

2. The four hand positions: uñas arriba (quarta), uñas adentro (terza), uñas abajo (seconda) and uñas afuera (prima). In all cases, the arm is fully extended.

3. Compases: the steps. Essentially, there are linear steps (forward, backward, to either side), ciruclar steps (along the imaginary circle), and angular steps (along an arc).

4. Atajo, from the Real Academia dictionary: Treta para herir al adversario por el camino más corto esquivando la defensa. Essentially, it means to place the true edge (in most cases) opposite the opponent's point, pre-parrying any attack. This implies either a step to the right (atajo to the inside), or to the left (atajo to the outside)

5. estocada: a thrust, which is not delivered like a lunge, but with a step with both feet.

6. desvío: a derailing or deflection of the attack, together with a simultaneous counterattack. This is done by stepping along the circle in the same direction the opponent is stepping.

7. golpe: a blow, or cut. There are really only four cuts: two downward diagonal cuts, two horizontal cuts.

That's all that I can think of for now; more on this later!

News

2011-02-06T18:02:00.003-05:00

This is just a quick bit of news that won't affect anyone who is currently in either the Capoferro or Dall'Agocchie study groups, but it is important all the same. Until further notice, both study groups are invitation only: no maybes, no popping in and out, CLOSED. The reason for this is twofold: 1) I'd rather have a dozen really good and dedicated fencers than twenty average ones, and 2) I personally need to continue to enjoy what I'm doing, otherwise I get burned out and lose interest. My ultimate goal is to have a solid programme in both traditions running smoothly when I leave at the end of next year, which can only be accomplished if I focus on those who have already dedicated themselves to this.

Otherwise, nothing has changed: the schedule remains as it was before this announcement.

Drills: correction

2011-01-25T22:06:00.003-05:00

In my haste to post the drills in anticipation of Monday's session (which went very well, I thought), I neglected to put in the interruption drill between the cavazione di tempo and the defenses done in place. So the drill list should read like this:

1. Lunges

2. Footwork

3. Tessitura

4. Approaching drills

5. Cavazione di tempo

6. Interrupting step

7. Opposition or cavazione counterattack in place

8. False attacks

9. Attacker vs. Defender

Tomorrow we'll have a camera (and some time) at our disposal, so photos and video of rapier and sidesword will be going up tomorrow night. Until then.

First Sunday Class

2011-01-23T18:19:00.004-05:00

After a number of schedule changes over the past few months, we've finally settled on Sunday afternoons for the Italian rapier class. All in all, I think it went very well, and I hope in the coming weeks we can make it even more efficient, which will allow us to accomplish more in less time. Specifically, once everyone learns the basic drills (which I described in the previous post), we can save lots of time by moving from one to the other immediately.

Everyone did remarkably well today, and aside from a few scrapes and bruises, we all made it out alive. I already mentioned a few issues that came up today after class, but it would be useful to repeat some of them here, as everyone was doing one or more of these at some point during class.

1. Overextending on the lunge: this can manifest itself as rolling onto the left ankle (which will ultimately lead to the destruction of that ankle), coming up onto the ball of the left foot (which hides your true measure), or sliding the rear foot as you attack (which also gives you a false sense of measure).

2. "The sinking lunge": this is related to the first one, but with a different physical manifestation. While it may seem like a good idea to lunge low to gain more distance, you are committing two major errors: a) your vita is not moving in a straight line, so it is not the most efficient movement, and b) you are abandoning any leverage advantage you might have had; in other words, you are giving your debole to your opponent.

3. Circling: Capoferro strongly discourages the practice (see "On those who circle", in the second part of his book), as it is not particularly useful for someone standing the Italian guard, nor does it allow for most of the defenses that we practice.

4. Over-reliance on cutting: while I am entirely guilty of cutting on a regular basis, the rapier is optimized for thrusting, with cuts coming in only if the point is no longer of any use.

We'll work on some of these issues tomorrow during drill time.

Italian rapier drills

2011-01-21T22:48:00.004-05:00

This post will primarily be of interest for those who come to the drills only session on Monday nights, but is useful for anyone who comes to rapier class, either at FAC or at UofT. I've been thinking of ways to make our training more efficient for two reasons: 1) I don't have any time to waste (and this is quite literal), and 2) If we already know the drills and are familiar with them, we can skip the often-long demonstrations of each drill, which means more fencing time. As we gain more experience and become level 2 or 3 fencers (with a +1 bonus to attack and defend), we can modify/upgrade or even replace some of the drills listed below; but as of now, here they are:

1) Thrusting: 15 thrusts at misura stretta, 12 lunges at misura larga, and 10 passate at misura larghissima.

2) Footwork: leader/follower drill with frequent role changes.

3) Tessitura*: 20 continuous attacks against a cooperative partner in various hand positions and various ranges.

4) Basic approaching drills, aka "The Spiral drill": beginning from out of measure, approach and strike the opponent using cavazione only, opposition only, and a combination of the two.

5) Cavazione di tempo drill: during the agent's step to misura larga, the patient will perform a cavazione and lunge, striking the agent before his foot lands.

6) The rock defense drills, aka "The counter-Spiral drill": if the agent attacks with a cavazione, counter with an opposition; if the agent attacks with an opposition, counter with a cavazione (with or without a piegatura di vita); alternatively, counter with a scanso della vita on either side.

7) False attack drill: knowing that the patient will defend, the agent will do a false attack to draw out the defense, and follow on with an appropriate second attack (under the sword, transport, cut, etc.)

8) Attacker/defender: application of all the previous drills in a restricted game.

*Literally, this term means "weaving", which resembles the interplay between the swords. I can't explain it in words, so I'll get some video on Sunday and put it up.

Back to the drawing board

2011-01-20T21:38:00.003-05:00

We're well into the New Year, and nary a post from me to be seen. But no longer! I'm back into the groove, and the number of sessions I'm running per week at AEMMA (and at UofT again) has doubled since last year. I've been working on a lot of new drills for our Dall'Agocchie study group; our seminar with Jared Kirby has given us plenty of rapier drills to master, and sword and dagger is not too far off in the horizon...in short, there is plenty to look forward to.

As for this blog, it's become quite clear that rather than posting up long sections of text, it would be much more useful to regularly post shorter descriptions of the class with photos and video from each session. Considering how difficult it is to interpret the systems from the written version in the first place, it only seems to add more confusion when I paraphrase the masters' words here. So instead, I'll be making much better use of visual content in the coming weeks.

For those of you who haven't been around recently, here are some of the events that are going on right now, or in the very near future:

Classes

Monday 18h00-19h00: rapier drills
Wednesday 21h00-23h00: Dall'Agocchie study group
Thursday 16h30-18h00: rapier class @UofT
Sunday 13h00-15h00: rapier class

Events and seminars

Starting 22 January (this Saturday), I'll be teaching an introductory course in Italian rapier at FAC through the ROM, from 14h00-15h30.
On 30 January (next Sunday), FAC will be having its annual open house, where all the schools that make up the Collective show off their stuff to the public. Everyone is welcome! 14h00-16h00.
On the first or second weekend of May (to be confirmed), we will be hosting Maestro Ramon Martinez for another Destreza seminar. More details to follow in the coming weeks.

Capoferro review: 20 November

2010-11-21T18:03:00.000-05:00

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

2010-11-19T17:09:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-11-14T18:35:00.000-05:00

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

2010-10-07T21:14:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-09-23T14:42:00.000-04:00

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

2010-09-02T12:54:00.001-04:00

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

2010-07-24T15:29:00.000-04:00

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.

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.
Throw a falso dritto followed by a mandritto sgualimbro, stepping to your left side with the left foot. End in Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
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:

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.
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:

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.
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.
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.
The play can continue if B covers against the tondo in Guardia di Faccia, and the riverso sgualimbro in Guardia di Testa.
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

2010-07-18T01:54:00.000-04:00

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

2010-07-17T15:51:00.000-04:00

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

2010-07-16T20:36:00.000-04:00

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:

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.
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...
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.
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

2010-07-10T19:15:00.000-04:00

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:

From Guardia di Testa, throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot.
"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.
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:

The classic: mandritto sgualimbro + Guardia di Testa until the rubber on our soles wears off.
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!
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.
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

2010-07-08T21:26:00.000-04:00

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

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.
Right ribbon (falso dritto + mandritto sgualimbro) with a triangle step with the left foot, facing 45 degrees to your right. Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
Dritto tramazzone with a pass forward, going through Guardia di Testa, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.
Left ribbon with a pass forward, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.
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.
Left ribbon with a pass back, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.
Dritto tramazzone with a pass back, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.
Dritto tramazzone with a pass back, ending in Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
Left ribbon with a pass back, ending in Coda Lunga e Stretta.

New variations on the Testa drill

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.
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.
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.
As above, except B will press down (true edge on flat) on A's sword and thrust a stoccata to the face or chest.
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

2010-07-03T17:14:00.002-04:00

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

2010-07-02T18:49:00.001-04:00

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

2010-06-19T19:33:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-18T16:11:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-14T22:55:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-13T17:18:00.001-04:00

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

2010-05-13T11:45:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-11T22:03:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-10T23:34:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-09T15:19:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-08T20:05:00.000-04:00

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

2010-04-25T20:23:00.000-04:00

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

2010-04-24T21:24:00.001-04:00

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

2010-04-24T17:37:00.001-04:00

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...

2010-03-27T16:16:00.001-04:00

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

2010-01-31T23:10:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-19T08:09:00.001-05:00

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

2010-01-17T20:47:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-16T20:31:00.001-05:00

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

2010-01-14T23:50:00.000-05:00

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!

Chinese swordsmanship?

2009-12-07T13:13:00.000-05:00

In my never-ending quest to look at what practitioners from other fencing schools are doing - be they in the European tradition or not - I stumbled across some interesting videos on Chinese swordsmanship, or more specifically jianshu, the use of the straight blade. I know very little about Chinese martial arts, but I've always wondered why Chinese fencing never really took root: the Japanese have been doing kendo since the end of the 19th century, the Europeans have been doing modern fencing since the beginning of the 19th century, and this is not to mention the numerous styles to be found in Southeast Asia, but I have never heard of fencing with Chinese weapons.

The World Jianshu League, which is comprised of only a few schools in North America (from what I've learned on the website, is busy reconstructing traditional Chinese swordsmanship as a modern sport, and what I've seen is pretty interesting. Interesting in that the techniques they've gleaned from a number of sword sets look almost identical to what Europeans were doing with an arming or sidesword in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.

This actions shown in this video, for example, bear a striking resemblance to the Dall'Agocchie's (1572) solo form, which will - I swear! - be posted up here in the coming weeks. Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WJLadmin#p/u/8/cpLeh2_xyF4

I'll put some more commentary up here in the next couple of days; my first impression leads me to say that they should forget the sporting aspect and focus on the controlled application of the techniques they've gleaned from the various forms. It's too beautiful to be turned into a gunslinging match, like, say, the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-s6tshiz_k

Class review: 5th of December

2009-12-05T20:05:00.000-05:00

What a class! Over the past couple of weeks, we have begun digging deeper into the system, and I know that I have been discovering some very interesting things as a result. The focus of this month is cutting with the rapier, both as agente and paziente, and has really brought some of Capoferro's more difficult to interpret passages to light; yes, they actually make sense to me now.

The one thing that had always bothered me since I first read his treatise in 2006 was the section on guadagnare in the second part of the book; what is the smart thing to do if you're in a weak position? First, "you don't do this, and you never do this, but you will do this." So what exactly does that mean? In the course of today's class, we were able to show these three responses in action, and...they work very well. I also realized today that they're all enshrined in some of the drills we've already been doing, heh heh.

1) "You must never disengage in order to throw a full blow." Like we were taught in grammar class, let's make that a positive statement: perform a cavazione to throw a half blow, i.e. a mezzo mandritto or a mezzo riverso, and then follow with an action that hinges on the opponent's reaction to it.

a) if the opponent attempts to clear your sword with the false edge, perform a cavazione and strike in the opposition hand position. For example, if you threw a mandritto to his sword, perform a cavazione as he comes back with the cut and thrust in seconda, and vice-versa.

b) if the opponent attempts to cover the threatened part of his body - i.e. guadagnare - exchange guards and thrust. For example, if you threw a mandritto to his sword, exchange guards and attack in seconda as he comes back with the cavazione, and vice-versa.

c) if the opponent's sword is excellently cleared by your cut, throw a false edge cut to the face, followed by a thrust if necessary. For example, if you throw a mandritto to his sword, cut to the face on the same line with a falso dritto. It is important that the hand stays low during the cut to prevent being struck by a flailing opponent.

2) "Never parry and then strike." Again as a positive statement, always parry and strike in the same tempo, not two. Although I've never explicitly mentioned this in class - probably because I never really made the connection - this is the cavazione di tempo. As my opponent comes to misura larga via a cavazione, rather than simply closing the line via a cavazione-guadagnare, I thrust via the cavazione, all in one motion.

3) Huge paraphrase here: "Perform a half-cavazione, and thrust to either side of the sword as the opponent approaches." The final option we as the defender have at our disposal can best be classified as a defensive feint, though it could be used by the aggressor as well. In this case, rather than take an offensive action as we did above, we will perform a half-cavazione (coming to terza) with a ceding of the vita (this is key); we thereby give the illusion of making distance, when in reality we are still at misura larga. If the opponent decides to step again, we strike on either side of his sword without having to do a cavazione, because our sword is right in the middle.

And another thing: the attacker and the defender's roles constantly blend together, so at any point, we could be doing these things back and forth to each other.

Class review: 19th of November

2009-11-19T19:44:00.000-05:00

Tonight's class was a good review for everyone who showed up; since only a few students showed up last week because of the "November Reading Week" (two days, really), it had been two weeks since anyone had picked up a sword. We went over all of the basics, refined some of our motions (particularly in relation to the correct tempo), and went as far as option three, creating motion.

One thing I mentioned tonight that seems to have frightened a few people was that I would be giving the first rank examination next Thursday at the beginning of class. This is both a formality and a necessity: formality because everyone already knows very well what I'll be testing them on, necessity because no one can free fence without passing this small hurdle. What I'm really aiming for with the examination is to make the commitment to Capoferro's system, which necessarily means abandoning anything that does not belong in it (the actions described in the plates are exceptions to this rule), and improve our skill in that system until we can take on anyone from another school, be they Spanish, Italian, German or self-trained. It's not enough for us to be good fighters; we need to be exemplary fencers. Only then can we begin to branch out and begin to examine other methods of performing the same kinds of actions.

Class review: 12th of November

2009-11-12T20:15:00.000-05:00

Things are progressing along very smoothly, now that we are two months into the new curriculum. Since UT students experiencing the first ever November reading break (a whole two days...), only three people showed up to class tonight, but that was perfect for what I wanted to do: run through all of the plates of the single sword in Capoferro (save two). Normally, this is not something I would in class, because it essentially means training the wrong thing, which is a bad thing to do, but it was useful in that it shows some excellent responses to someone doing the incorrect move (i.e. attacking out of tempo).

First, a few generalities:

1) If my opponent and I are point high (i.e. at the throat or face), and my opponent performs a cavazione to strike to the head, I respond by passing in either seconda (plate 9) or quarta (plate 18). In plate 9, a pass in prima is also possible, especially if the person doing so is shorter than his or her opponent.

2) If my opponent and I are point middle (i.e. at the chest), and my opponent performs a cavazione to strike to the chest, I respond by either striking with a firm footed lunge in either seconda (plate 7) or quarta (plate 16).

3) If my opponent and I are point low (i.e. at the flank), and my opponent performs a cavazione to strike the flank, I respond by either performing a scannatura di punta (plate 13) from the outside, or press down his sword from the inside (plate 12).

So, considering the inside and the outside, as well as the height of the point, we already have six contratempo actions to the opponent attacking out of tempo. How many other ways can the opponent strike? Not too many.

If for some reason my opponent attacks very low, in this case with a riverso to the leg, I simply void the threatened leg and thrust right to the face. (plate 8) Throwing a mandritto to the leg is just as, if not more crazy.

Finally, we have gli scansi, the voids. Although I love performing the scanso della vita (plate 19), I find the circumstance in which Capoferro describes very difficult to pull off. Granted, as I discussed with Aldo at the end of class, all of these are moments in time, typically four or five moves into the engagement, so "doing" the play should feel stilted. The two instances Capoferro shows are against a thrust to the inside, either to the chest (plate 17) or to the face (plate 19). More on this to follow, because I would actually like to post some video of this up.

Class review: 11th of November

2009-11-12T15:50:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a class last night. I've taught some pretty good classes in the last two years, but last night's class definitely was near the very top of that list. For the first time in a long time, I covered everything I wanted to in the allotted time, and even managed to build on the already complex sequences we were going through at the end of the class.

Because we always warm up with the same drills (cavazione di tempo, the perfect and inperfect spirals, etc.), I'll only mention what was new about last night: more cutting, and their follow-on.

1) Throw a mezzo mandritto (i.e. from quarta) or mezzo riverso (i.e. from seconda) to the opponent's sword to create motion from stillness. As the opponent performs a cavazione to come back on line, exchange guards to either seconda or quarta, depending on which side you started, and thrust in opposition.
2) If the opponent decides to step back with while performing the cavazione, strike with a passing lunge.
3) If as the defender the aggressor passes in seconda, this is an opportunity to peform a scanso della vita, or a scanso del piede dritto if he lunges with a firm foot.
4) If however the aggressor passes in quarta, we'll be looking at a counter-beat followed by a pass in quarta.

Tonight I'll be going through the plates with a smaller group tonight, to figure out the context for each; more on this later!

Class review: 5th of November

2009-11-08T14:47:00.001-05:00

Although a bit late, I have the review materials for the class at UT this past Thursday. Despite the peculiar habit of people showing up whenever they want to - class does actually start at 5pm, people - we managed to get through a great deal of material, so much so that we will be ready to fence starting not this Thursday (the 12th), but the following Thursday (the 19th).

So without further ado, here are some of the things we discussed last week:

1) The tempo window: as with every other weapon, be it fist, foot, sword or whatever, there is a good and a bad time to attack the opponent, particularly if the opponent is wielding the same or a similar weapon to the one you are. Dall'Agocchie and Capoferro mention five specific instances in which I can safely strike my opponent. For the sake of simplicity, these five instances can be distilled into one, easy to remember rule: I can only safely strike the opponent when they're busy doing something else, be that changing hand position, stepping backward, performing a cavazione or opposition, cutting, etc. With a thrusting weapon, such as a rapier or smallsword, this window of opportunity is very small, and with an experienced fencer, the window will be almost imperceptible, due to the size of the motion.

The two main drills we have been working on in class, the perfect and imperfect spirals (the former being a strike via a contracavazione, the latter a strike via opposition) work on the assumption that our opponent wishes to defend himself by closing off the line, and it is during this action that we strike. Our two motions together make one tempo, though my contribution to the tempo will be far smaller than his, because the proportion of our actions has changed significantly, provided I have stringered his blade. But...what if the opponent doesn't react? As we saw in class, if I attack out of tempo, my opponent has a contratempo action immediately available to him. Hmmm....

2) Creating motion in the opponent: the simplest answer to our quandary is to make our opponent move, in this case by removing their sword from the equation by way of a mezzo colpo, or half cut, either from the "true side" (a mandritto) or from the "riverse side" (a riverso). I make an angled cut downwards to my opponent's sword to bring it offline, and during his recovery, I perform a cavazione and strike to the other side; simply striking straightaway is actually quite risky, as we have seen. Needless to say, the rapier fight is one of great patience!

3) The cuts: to wrap up this review, I think it would be worth it to discuss the names of the cuts, and diverse angles. There are quite a few of them, and unfortunately, the direct English translations don't flow very well, so we need to learn the Italian for each one.

- Fendente: a downwards, vertical cut.

- Sgualimbro: a downwards, diagonal cut.

- Tondo: a horizontal cut.

- Ridoppio: an upwards, diagonal cut done with the true edge.

- Falso: an upwards, diagonal cut done with the false edge.

- Montante: an upwards, vertical cut, usually done with the false edge.

- Tramazzone: a downwards cut done from the wrist.

In other news, Saturday's class may be moved to 12-2. More details on this later in the week.

Class review: 4th of November

2009-11-05T10:55:00.001-05:00

Last night's class, for one reason or another, did not turn out the way I had planned. I had written down a number of things to accomplish - getting through all of the attribute building drills, practicing and perfecting the spirals, beginning the cuts - but we only managed to get through the incomplete spiral drill, with a very brief introduction to cutting.

Since I have already discussed in previous posts the drills that we do in class, I won't repeat them here, but I will make a comment on a little something I realized last night; an extremely obvious little something, but it bears mentioning it for the newer people.

1) Guadagnare: placing my guard opposite my opponent's threat, thereby closing that line of attack. Does not imply an offensive action at all.

2) Stringere: directing my point at the appropriate target (i.e. front shoulder in quarta, rear shoulder in seconda), all while having guadagnare. In this way, my offense is backed up by my defense, and my defense is more effective because an offense is attached to it.

Interestingly enough, each guard offends the opposite target it defends: seconda threatens the rear shoulder while defending the near shoulder, and conversely, quarta threatens the near shoulder while defending the rear shoulder. For whatever reason, people are still under the impression that the near shoulder can be defended in quarta; yeah, not going to happen, because there is no opposition.

More to follow on this after tonight's class at UT.

Three years to the day

2009-11-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

Guy Fawkes Day has a very particular meaning for me, despite the fact that I've never been to England, have never burned a Guy (effigy or otherwise), and thought that V for Vendetta was just a decent film; three years ago today, I started fencing at Academie Duello. It seems like such a long time ago, because so many things have happened since then: I became an assistant instructor, got my master's degree at UBC, moved out to Toronto for my PhD and started up a rapier programme at AEMMA. I think it's pretty fair to say that I've been a busy, busy guy in the past three years.

So what does this have to do with anything? People have a tendency to attach a certain amount of importance to certain days of the year - birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and so on - and I am no different. Recognizing that I've fencing for three years has got me thinking about how far I've come, how far I want to go, and how I plan on getting there. So...where exactly do I want to go with this? It has always been my goal to learn the various disciplines of which the Italian school of fencing is composed, starting with Fiore, passing through the Bolognese masters, and finishing up with Capoferro and Fabris in the early 17th century, and that is the goal I am working towards. Being at AEMMA this past year has been a tremendous boon in my understanding and subsequent application of Fiore's art, and I feel much more comfortable now than I did before I came, so much so that I feel ready to challenge for the rank of Free Scholler next September, provided life doesn't get in the way. I've spent a lot of my own time reading, analysing and re-analysing Marozzo's and Dall'Agocchie's treatises, and have achieved a very high level of understanding of them, I believe; I just wish I could find the time to work with someone on them. As for rapier...I'm teaching three times a week, so I'd say I'm doing pretty well.

However, in order to get to where I'm going, I need to really improve my training regimen, which for the moment consists largely of improving my athleticism through weight training and running, as well as perfecting the actions of whatever weapon I happen to be using; I'm missing the key element of a good training partner, whom I can push and who will definitely push back. So...let's go find someone.

Upcoming quarterstaff workshop

2009-10-22T21:00:00.001-04:00

This Sunday, from 1-5, I will be teaching a workshop on Swetnam's quarterstaff system, as a follow-up to the one I did at the beginning of September. Everyone is welcome to attend, as we will be going over all of the basics to start, and gradually work our way up to performing more complex plays, specifically integrating the blows, extending our exchanges, and executing some of the more interesting actions described by Swetnam.

The cost will be $40, and all of the equipment will be provided by AEMMA. I hope to see a lot of faces (new and old) there!

Class review: 22nd and 23rd of October

2009-10-22T20:29:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since my last update, and a lot of things have been happening in class lately. Very, very good things, I might add. The curriculum that Jared has passed on to me is beginning to bear some fruit, and I think it is worthwhile to discuss here some of the drills we have been working on, so those who are just visiting the site for the first time will get an idea about how and what we practice, and current students can review what they learned in class.

Strictly technical

One thing I had been struggling with for a long time was how to improve the fundamentals of the rapier in the Italian school, notably striking accurately and in tempo, all while staying completely covered. I have stuck with some of the older targeting drills to focus on one thing at a time - proper measure, order of the lunge, and accuracy - while introducing a drill inspired by what we had worked on with Jared, adding in the elements of time and proper defense.

1. Striking various targets: I usually adopt the same three every time - open hand, index finger and knothole - and occasionally add in a moving target, a second target, a sometimes target, etc. This is great to get people warmed up, and really have them focusing on the proper order of the lunge, and if done correctly, the accuracy that comes up with proper order.

2. Striking to the body on a cavazione: this is a drill I have borrowed from Jared, which forms a nice bridge between a strictly fundamental drill, and a drill rooted more in timing, or rather, the correct tempo in which to strike. The agente will start in terza at misura larga, and will change to seconda or quarta in order to stringere the patient's sword. The patient will take advantage of this motion and perform a cavazione and thrust to the opening created by the agent.

3. Cavazione and opposition drill: another mechanical, albeit essential, drill. This can start either in or out of measure, though I find the best instance is when the agente starts at the first distance (i.e. tip to tip, or larghissima), and steps in to stringere the paziente, who will immediately perform a cavazione. Agente will perform a contra-cavazione, and so on, and then they change roles, so they have practice doing a cavazione on both sides. To make this drill more interesting, the agente will oppose, i.e. exchange guards, on each of the paziente's disengages. The important thing in both of these drills is to ensure that the physical guard is always in a position to defend the threatened parts of the body.

Working towards fencing drills

We haven't yet reached the point of practicing combat specific drills, but a lot of these drills are in preparation for fencing, as they rely exclusively on the fencer's ability to act in the right measure, and in the right tempo. For some bizarre reason, I have decided to call these the true fusili drill and the false fusili drill; why I felt the need to reference a lovely pasta, I have no idea.

1. Striking via a contra-cavazione (i.e. true fusili drill): both fencers will start out of measure. The agente will create a threat to either the inside or the outside, and paziente will go to close that line with the physical guard in either seconda or quarta. During his motion, agente will perform a cavazione with a step in. Paziente will go to close that line again via a cavazione, and agente will perform a contra-cavazione and lunge. As we have noticed in class, a shorter person will have to take at least one more step to get within range.

2. Striking via an exchange of guard (i.e. false fusili drill): both fencers will start out of measure. The agente will create a threat to either the inside or the outside, and paziente will go to close that line with the physical guard in either seconda or quarta. During his motion, agente will perform a cavazione with a step in. Paziente will go to close that line again via a cavazione, and agente will interrupt by exchanging guards (i.e. going from seconda to quarta or quarta to seconda) and lunge.

The difference between the two of these is timing: in the first case, agente is acting in the middle of paziente's tempo, so he must go around his sword in order to strike safely. In the second case, agente acts early in paziente's tempo, so he is able to simply exchange guards (which actually takes more time than a cavazione) and thrust.

Starting next class, we will begin alternating freely between the two of them, and then gradually increasing the complexity by adding in some very specific factors: what happens if the paziente performs the "wrong" action? What happens if paziente doesn't react? How do I induce a tempo? Finally, and what I think is the most interesting, what if paziente attacks? Hint: look at the plates!

That'll be all for now; more to follow this Saturday!

Summary: Jared Kirby seminar

2009-10-10T00:00:00.001-04:00

I realize I'm posting this well after the fact, but better late than never! On the 26th and 27th of September - just over two weeks ago - our rapier group at FAC had the privilege of hosting Jared Kirby for a two day seminar on Capoferro. Having met Jared earlier this year at ISMAC, I was eager to have him come up to spend some time with our group, but mostly for my benefit: during the course of ISMAC, I realized there were a few pieces "missing" in my repertoire - due in no small part to my lack of constant supervision - which I felt he would be able to help me fix. I was not mistaken.

Nine people including myself showed up bright and early on Saturday morning to study in detail Capoferro's system of Italian rapier, starting by a very, very (!!) thorough examination of his one and only guard, terza. Immediately I was thrown off by the small - though very important! - details I had neglected to incorporate, notably the exact positioning of the body parts in both the ordinary and extraordinary paces. I've been often asked why ____ sore, and now I have my answer: if we follow exactly what Capoferro wrote, nothing should be sore, save the burning you should feel in the legs. I caught myself several times putting stress on the knee, which I was able to immediately fix because of the feeling of the guard.

The entire first day was spent refining terza, and I couldn't have been happier. It feels much more... efficient than what I had been falling into, particularly concerning the vita; already bending at the waist makes is a small adjustment that makes a big difference during the fight. I was also struck by how much forward energy can come out of a lunge, even more than I had been training for the past three years.

On the second day, to my great surprise, everyone showed up (on time, even). That made matters much simpler for the purpose of drilling. In any case, we started with a review of the previous day's session, and then went right into discussing guadagnare and stringere, two very important notions which I had reversed; turns out it's not a huge deal because I had been doing the right thing all along, only my language had been in error. We managed to get through quite a few drills throughout the course of the day, and the wheels in my head have been turning steadily ever since. We have a lot of material to work on for the next couple of months. Excellent.

Overall, it was an excellent seminar, and I look forward to inviting Jared out again for a follow-up. We all got a great deal out of the weekend, and the fencing spark has been re-ignited in more than a few people's eyes. Next week will bring some good things.

UofT class update!

2009-10-09T23:54:00.000-04:00

Yes! After several weeks of uncertainty, we finally have confirmation that rooms are booked for next week! I have yet to confirm with the person in charge of bookings which room(s) is booked, because it will change every week due to a host of other events going on throughout the St. Mike's campus.

As for content, a few things will change in the way I present the material since Jared Kirby's workshop. As of next week, I'll be starting from scratch with the new students, and really work the new things that I've learned. Specifically, I want to play around with the refined notions of guadagnare and stringere, and how to enter the fight safely. The idea of creating an opening as a way to get into measure is an interesting one; let's just see what non-fencers do about it.

UT: Review of the first class

2009-09-24T22:32:00.000-04:00

Despite the difficulties with the booking (which should be resolved by the next class), the first class went very well; three new people showed up to class, and three people from FAC came as well, so it was a nice mix of relatively experienced people and new students.

I was very happy with the way classes progressed. In two hours we got a lot of things covered, and we kind of covered some of the material for the next class, specifically a more thorough introduction to measure and a glimpse into the various notions of tempo. Since I introduced so many new terms in today's class, I thought it would be very useful to give a definition of each one.

Prima: the first hand position possible upon drawing the sword from its sheath. It is characterized by being located above the shoulder with the true edge facing upwards, the point going downwards. It is a forward position. Palm out.

Seconda: formed by turning the true edge outwards, sword at the shoulder, and the point somewhat raised. It is also a forward position. Palm down.

Terza: formed by turning the true edge downwards, in its natural position. Capoferro considers this his only true guard position. Palm in.

Quarta: formed by turning the true edge inwards, sword below the shoulder. The final forward position. Palm up.

Misura: the distance between the point of my sword and my opponent's body.

Out of measure: when neither myself or my opponent can reach the other. Tempo does not exist outside of measure.

Misura larga: the wide measure. The distance at which I can hit my opponent with a firm-footed lunge, i.e. with a step.

Misura stretta: the narrow measure. The distance at which I can hit my opponent without moving my foot.

I'll leave it there for now. I'd like to figure out a way to make this a separate part of the blog, like a glossary; all in due time...

Wednesday night recap

2009-09-24T00:33:00.001-04:00

Last night's class went very well, considering the varying levels of participants. I didn't quite get through everything I wanted to do, but I covered the essentials:

1. Refine everyone's posture and hand positions. (Looking much better!)

2. Get people more comfortable with recognizing measure, and lining up the target.

3. Stepping to misura larga in safety.

4. Regaining a strong position via backwards motion and either a cavazione or a change in the angle of the sword.

Although we ran out of time towards the end, I'd really like to develop the final drill we worked on, in which one fencer has constrained the other, who must regain the line via the two ways mentioned above. The "aggressor" will try to maintain his or her control by exchanging the guards (usually from seconda to quarta, or vice-versa) or contra-cavazione. Ideally, and this is definitely an idea that sprung from working in JKD over the past few weeks, we can turn this into a wonderful flow drill, from which all things are possible: thrust, cut, disarm, pommel strike, throw, etc. Let's see where this goes.

Speaking of flow drills, working the 1st-3rd masters of grappling would make an excellent flow drill, which can start or stop at any time. It really became apparent to me tonight just how simple it is for the aggressor and defender to switch roles. So much to think about.

Class info: Wednesday night's class

2009-09-22T23:26:00.000-04:00

After a very productive JKD lesson today, I got inspired for tomorrow night's class material. I've been playing around a lot recently with the True Fight, going back and forth, gaining and maintaining the line, and so on; now I want to put everything thing together into one long chase scene.

We'll spend the first part of the class going over the basic (footwork, guard, targeting), and then review the basics of the true fight (trovare di spada, stringere e guadagnare), and then go back and forth from there: I have the line, now you have the line, etc., until someone decidedly "wins" the drill.

And in other news, blue cords will start looking at sidesword in the next couple of weeks. I have two coming in, and I am excited. : )

UofT class: update!

2009-09-22T15:30:00.000-04:00

After a nearly two-week long absence, I finally have some time (and the information) to post something about the class at UofT. It has been finalized as taking place from 5-7 at Father Madden Hall in Carr Hall - that's a lot of halls - on the St. Mike's campus, just off of Bay on St. Joseph street.

For the first two months, I'll be bringing in all the swords I can possibly handle - I think 12 is a pretty good number to start - and we'll be looking strictly at the absolute essentials of using a rapier, notably it's practical use: dueling. I really want to emphasize that fencing with a rapier is not at all a sport, and I want the sporting mentality to stay at a minimum, even during mini tournaments.

Thursday's topic: the introduction. I'll specifically be looking at the rapier's place in history, it's use, how it is properly held (any of the three ways), how to hold oneself in guard, how to move in guard, and how to thrust. That will be plenty for the first class, I think.

Toys

2009-09-11T00:15:00.001-04:00

One final (I swear this time!) thing I'd like to do with this blog is to examine some of the swords that I and my group use, and discuss some of their better (or worse) qualities. For a lot of people just starting out, finding a good rapier or sidesword is not the easiest task in the world, given the amount of blade makers out there, some being far better than others. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of all three of my rapiers, two Darkwoods and a Hanwei. I hope to get everyone's sword up here at some point.

Recap of tonight's class

2009-09-10T00:14:00.000-04:00

I've realized something about teaching, having done it four five years at the high school level, and almost two years at the fencing school: every time I come up with the "perfect" lesson plan, I always deviate tremendously from it. Tonight's class was no exception.

Although in general I really enjoy small classes, whenever the number is under five (including me), I tend to overemphasize a lot of things, and make every effort to make sure that everyone understands everything. It doesn't work in a classroom, and it doesn't work in a fencing salle. Tonight's class was supposed to be on the true fight (which I did cover, and went very well, actually), but it eventually turned into a symposium on the presence of the point, a concept that is key to excelling at the rapier. Muscular strength - while nice - is not what rapier is all about. Rapier is all about mastering time, distance and proportion, all by doing virtually effortless motions of the hand. This is something I need to work on myself for basically the rest of my existence.

Anyway, the one great thing that came out of tonight's class - and I hear this all the time during grappling class at AEMMA - is that if everything is aligned, i.e. my structure is sound, I'm acting in the right time at the right distance, doing should be absolutely effortless. Or really close to it. Changing the proportion of my sword's angle as I step back requires no physical effort at all from me, and it gives me a tremendous advantage.

Goal for this Saturday, regardless of who shows up: let the weapon do the work for me.

Videos

2009-09-09T14:13:00.000-04:00

Something I've always wanted to do - dating from my days back at Duello - is posting videos of various techniques, plays, fencing situations from the masters we study: Capoferro, Dall'Agocchie, Swetnam, Marozzo, as well as Fiore (why not?). I've gotten really frustrated with just seeing pictures with a description (or not) of a particular technique or principle, because it's taking a very dynamic situation and twisting, warping it into a static one. I want to see things in context, so that's what I'm setting out to do.

The absolute first thing I'll be posting will be from Dall'Agocchie's treatise, on what he calls stepping in the guards. It's an incredible simple form designed to get the new student used to the stepping patterns used in the Bolognese system, but it also contains a number of important sword actions which are seen again and again throughout his text: the dritto and riverso ribbon cuts, the tramazzone, and the riverso ridoppio-imbroccata combo. I've been working with his treatise for so long (a year and a half now), and I feel the urge to produce something from my experiences.

I also plan to take some short videos from class, which will focus either on a particular drill, a concept, or a moment in time, otherwise known as a play. I'll start with some really simple stuff (striking as my opponent enters misura larga, cavazione to regain the line, the counter-stepping drill), before moving on to some complex exchanges.

Now I just need some volunteers, and possibly someone with a nice camera...

Update on class at UofT

2009-09-09T00:10:00.000-04:00

The rapier class to be offered at UofT as of next Thursday will be held from 4-6 in Madden Hall (on the first floor of Carr Hall) on the St. Michael's campus. (This time may change slightly; more info as the week goes on!)

My goal for the class on campus is to reach out to the student population at UofT, bringing in some new bodies, which is good for everyone in the long run; the more people we have learning, the more we all have a chance to fence with "many diverse players." Due to the initial equipment dilemma, I'll have to limit numbers to twelve students maximum, and we won't be doing any "fencing" until after the foundations of the Art have been understood to a satisfactory degree. Students will be expected to purchase their own equipment by the end of the eighth class, which includes specifically a mask and a rapier.

Material to cover during the eight weeks:

1: the essentials of posture, movement, the four guard positions, and the lunge.
2: an introduction to measure and angulation of the sword and body.
3: introduction to the concepts of trovare di spada, stringere, and guadagnare.
4: introduction to the various meanings of tempo.
5: the true fight.
6: expanding on the true fight, incorporating cuts, offhand use.
7: introduction to the deceptive fight, i.e. the basic feints.
8: tying it all together, the test.

I'm really looking forward to branching out; this should be good.

Class outline

2009-09-08T23:53:00.000-04:00

For the first time...ever, I'll be dividing the class into two parts: the more advanced students will pick up a dagger, and the less advanced will continue working on refining the elements of the true fight, as well as incorporating the feints we've been working with over the past few weeks. The schedule will look something like this:

9h00-9h30: warm-up, basic footwork and targeting drills. (All students) Short break.
9h30-10h00: intro to dagger (blue) and both fights (green). Short break.
10h00-10h15: slow work.
10h15-end: attacker/defender scenarios: free, back against the wall, having been hit. (Hope to have time for all three)

Things might change slightly depending on how many people show up, but we shall see...

So far, we have six students (including myself) signed up for Jared's seminar. Keep the names coming!

Upcoming events

2009-09-07T23:49:00.000-04:00

One of the main reasons I wanted to set up this blog was to get information out about upcoming events and classes much more efficiently than using an e-list; this way, everything you could possibly need to know about this week's topic in class is going to be will be here (as well as a few notes afterwards), and I'll be posting all sorts of events, like upcoming seminars and the bimonthly free fencing sessions that I've been setting up.

Speaking of which, after the small hiccup caused by Labour Day weekend, we'll be having our second free fencing session at Queen's Park (at the UofT0 campus) from 12-2, weather permitting. Otherwise, we'll be at the salle. I'll be running a short lesson from 11-12 beforehand, and then we'll get right into fencing right away. There is no fee, and the only requirements are the following:

Fencing mask
Gorget (if not, you'll only be allowed to do slower speed fencing)
A rapier. Pretty obvious, no?
Fencing jackets or a heavier shirt is preferable; if you have one, bring it.

We don't fence for points - they sure as heck didn't do that in the 16th century - so all good hits count. Obviously, this is a very subjective qualifier, so I'll do my best to explain what I mean. Any solid thrust to a major target (head, throat, chest, under the arm, torso, flank, inside of the thigh) is a killing blow, as well as a cut to any of these areas. If one or both fencers receives a hit in one of these places, the fencers will reset, and fence again. A thrust or cut to any other target will also be cause for a reset, but only if the blow is good, i.e. the blade bends during the thrust, or the cut draws through; it's pretty hard to fence without a swordarm or feet. Seizures of the blade and swordarm are allowed, though full-on wrestling is not.

In other news, very important news, I might mention, Jared Kirby, the translator of Capoferro's fencing treatise Gran Simulacro, is coming to FAC for a two-day workshop on the 26th and 27th of September. If you are even remotely interested in rapier, or historical martial arts in general, this is definitely the workshop to attend. Mr. Kirby is an excellent fencer and instructor, and I hope you can all help me welcome him to Toronto with a big turnout. So without further ado, here's the workshop description.

Deconstructing Capo Ferro
Although Capo Ferro has not left us a “manual” to work from, his brilliant treatise hold the keys necessary to recreate his system of fencing while also giving a wonderful glimpse of contemporary fencing as well as the opinions of other masters. This weekend will give you guidelines to understanding how Capo Ferro presents information as we work on distilling his system from the source. This is an advanced workshop for those studying Capo Ferro's work and will assume you have read "Gran Simulacro dell’arte e dell’uso della Scherma" or "Italian Rapier Combat".

Class will begin with the posture and guard which are the foundation of all fencing. We will look at how Capo Ferro explains his guardia and where to find the information in his book. Using this information we will then assume the posture precisely as he describes and illustrates. Once in the proper posture, we will add the weapon and position it exactly as Capo Ferro describes in order to form his one and only guardia.

From this guardia, we will examine how Capo Ferro prepares and executes an attack. Start with his footwork, we will analyze the passo straordinario in order to perform the precise mechanics of his unique ‘lunge’. Next, we will examine how to enter the fight and create tempo for your attack. The workshop will conclude with an examination of how to position ourselves to facilitate defense in the attack.

Bio: Jared Kirby has been involved in Western Martial Arts for over fifteen years. He co-founded The New Dawn Duellists Society in Minneapolis, MN in order to generate interest in the study of Historical European Martial Arts. After several years of recreating western swordfighting from the historical treatises, he moved to Scotland and studied with Maestro Paul Macdonald. After returning to the U.S., he moved to New York City in order to learn the Spanish Rapier from Maestro Ramón Martínez. Jared has studied and trained at the Academy for 10 years and is an Instructor of Spanish and Italian Rapier as well as French Foil at the Martinez Academy of Arms in New York City.

He is currently the fencing instructor at SUNY Purchase and also teaches teaches a variety of workshops across the US and around the world including Canada, England, Scotland, Finland and Italy. He has taught at the Paddy Crean International Art of the Sword Workshop, the International Swordfighting and Martial Arts Convention (ISMAC), Rapier Camp and the Western Washington WMA Workshop just to name a few.

Jared is the editor and one of the translators of “Italian Rapier Combat”, the first complete, professional translation of Capo Ferro. He is also the editor and wrote the introduction for “The School of Fencing” by Domenico Angelo and annotated by Maestro Jeannette Acosta-Martínez. For more information, see Martinez Academy of Arms or Amazon.com.

He is the co-coordinator of the International Swordfighting and Martial Arts Convention in Detroit, MI. This workshop, created in 2000, brings together the finest instructors from around the world for one of the largest annual Western Martial Arts workshops. Jared is also a member of the Association for Historical Fencing.

The cost for the workshop is $100, and will run from 10-3 on Saturday, and 11-4 on Sunday. Required equipment: rapier, mask, gorget, fencing jacket or gambeson, gloves. If there are any questions, feel free to contact me.

Wow, that was a long post. I think I'm done now.

Random pictures from classes/workshops past

2009-09-06T11:11:00.000-04:00

This is another shot from yesterday's long sword freeplay. I don't necessarily recommend fencing longsword barefeet.

After teaching rapier class yesterday, Aldo (right) and I wanted to do some longsword freeplay at about half speed. We had some really good exchanges, though my hands have seen better days...

This is from an impromptu class I gave at the UofT campus yesterday afternoon. David (left) is being quite indulgent by having fallen victim to my feint in seconda.

This is another shot from the quarterstaff workshop. It looks like Brian (right) is trying out the first false play of the thrust on Aldo (left).

This is from the quarterstaff workshop I gave at FAC on the 30th of August. I was really happy with how it went; if only we could figure out a safe way to fence with these...

This is one of my favourite pictures from when Devon came back in June. We brought all of our gear down to the Beaches to do some photos and some slow work, and this is just one of those.

This is from the two-day workshop given by head instructor Devon Boorman from Academie Duello on the 20th and 21st of June. Here we're going over the basic guard positions of the sword and dagger.

Class times

2009-09-06T10:44:00.002-04:00

I currently teach two times a week at FAC (927 Dupont St.), with the strong possibility of a third class to be offered Thursday afternoon/early evening at UofT (St. Mike's College).

Wednesday: 21h00-23h00
Thursday: 16h00-18h00 (tentatively)
Saturday: 11h00-13h00

In addition, every two weeks we host a free fencing session at FAC from 12h00-14h00 on Saturdays, to which everyone is welcome.

Fencing in Toronto: the beginning

2009-09-06T09:56:00.000-04:00

I've finally accumulated the requisite amount of chutzpah to get this blog going; the idea of making all of my ideas about fencing available online has been at the back of my mind for quite some time now - about as long as I've been in Toronto, actually, so just over a year - but I've never quite felt the urge to until now. Why now? I guess it's because a new school year has started, I'm getting anxious to test my skills against new people, and I'm preparing for both of my fencing exams for next year, but there's a whole host of reasons, I suppose. Regardless, here I am, so let's start.

I began my journey of historical fencing in Vancouver in 2006 (on Guy Fawke's Day, coincidentally) when I showed up for my first class at Academie Duello. I had been trying to find a martial arts school that suited my personal tastes for quite some time at that point, and having been weened on Dumas and all sorts of swashbuckling films, the rapier appealed to me immediately. I am so lucky to have walked into the studio that Autumn night, or else one of my lifelong passions might have just passed me by: without a question, taking up fencing was one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had in my life. Not only is it an incredible physical exercise, but it involves every fibre of one's being; needless to say, there has never been a dull moment, and I know I'll never be done learning.

Starting up fencing has also been a tremendous social boon for me, as I have met a number of really wonderful people through fencing, most of whom I can consider my close friends. Not to mention the love of my life, whom I met during my first month of teaching. : ) Although everyone I met at Duello has played some part in my life, I owe my biggest thanks to Devon, who has been an excellent instructor and friend, and who has entrusted me with a number of projects, notably bringing the curriculum to Toronto, where I'm now teaching rapier.

After finishing my master's degree at UBC in the spring 0f 2008, I decided to continue my studies in Toronto at the UofT, a city that was also the home of AEMMA, a school that had been on my fencing radar for quite some time, possibly even before I found out about Academie Duello. Although I was quite disheartened to leave all of my friends in Vancouver behind (save one!), I was quite thrilled to start anew in Toronto, with a whole new group of people. Although the curriculum here is quite different from the one I was used to in Vancouver, I have learned a tremendous deal from my fellow scholler's and instructors since being here, and have felt myself grow as a martial artist and an instructor. Things are looking good.

So now that I have made the obligatory lengthy introduction, I can get down to the reason why I started this blog in the first place: involving more people in the fencing community, by offering classes, workshops, bimonthly open free-fencing sessions, and seminars from some of the best instructors out there. I love perfecting my knowledge, and I love passing it on to other people, and that is what I plan to do.