Academie Duello Instructors
Roland Cooper
Youth Program Head
Roland’s first forays into swordplay and martial arts happened when he was young, in the form of brief stints into fencing and karate, but he was attracted to historical swordplay after seing a demonstration by the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). In the SCA he took up armoured combat, and it didn’t take long for him to try his hand at rapier as well. In 2004, when Roland heard that Academie Duello was opening, he was the first student to sign up.
Roland is now Academie Duello’s store manager, a lead instructor in the Adult Swordplay Program, and the head instructor of the Youth Swordplay Program where he also administers the summer Knight Camps. He is an active participant in all three branches of the Cavaliere Program, and is the resident caretaker of Red Colt Equestrian Farm, Academie Duello’s partner in equine activities.
Jennifer Landels
Mounted Combat Program Head
Jennifer has been riding since before she could walk, and her first complete sentence was “I want a horse.” In high school she and her best friend used to fence with riding crops, so in retrospect it is inevitable she would end up finding a way to combine swords and horses in her life. She holds an honours BA in Medieval English Literature, and a certificate of Childbirth Education. She has worked as a writer, editor, artist, doula and prenatal instructor, as well as guitarist and lead singer for Stiff Bunnies and an assortment of other rock bands (to which she may or may not confess).
Jennifer manages Academie Duello’s sister location, Red Colt Equestrian Farm Co-op, and runs the Cavaliere Program from there.
A. Patricia Gonsalves
Archery Program Head
Patricia has been involved in archery for 30 years, becoming an instructor 19 years ago. In that time, she has done extensive research into the history of archery and has an extensive knowledge of the recurve bow, longbow and horsebow. In the past Patricia has competed in various events throughout British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada, as well as in various SCA events. 1994 found her on the Canadian Archery Team presenting archery demos for the Commonwealth Games. During her many years in competition Patricia’s favourite challenge has been field archery: target shooting, often in a forest or field setting. She also is an avid bow hunter and fisher, regularly taking part in the small-game hunting season.
Patricia is also part of a local Roman re-enactment group, regularly doing talks, demonstrations and educational discussions about archery in Late Roman Antiquity and Byzantine civilization.
Patricia runs Academie Duello’s Archery Program. She believes strongly in the spiritual aspect of archery as a form of moving meditation and centring technique, and conveys this in her teaching.
David McCormick
Stage & Screen Program Head
Fight choreographer, stage combat instructor and performer, David McCormick has taught stage combat at the Sears Drama Festival, George Brown College, Rapier Wit Stage Combat, the Hamilton Urban Shakespeare Workshop, and many workshops for Forward Theatre (Mississauga).
David has recently choreographed fights for Fat Pig (Performance Works, Granville Island), Beauty and The Beast (Pembroke), Sherlock Holmes and the First English Gentleman (Toronto Fringe), Conversations with My Father (Teatron, Toronto), and five seasons of Forward Theatre’s Shakespeare productions, including Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Twelfth Night and others.
His martial arts expertise includes karate, judo, wing chun and bartitsu, as well as experience in parkour (free-running). He has over 10 years of training through Fight Directors Canada with such Canadian and international stage-combat veterans as Daniel Levinson, John Stead, Simon Fon, Ian Rose, and Tony Wolf.
David is an alumnus of the University of Waterloo’s drama department and Rapier Wit Stage Combat in Toronto. David is excited to bring a full stage combat program to Vancouver, through Academie Duello. He also teaches a weekly Bartitsu class at the Academie.