Swords in public venues? Under the right conditions, the public will flock (and sometimes pay) to see your historical swordplay demonstration or visit a historical exhibition of swords. But, display those very same blades in a park or dimly-lit alley, and the public reaction is apt to be significantly different – notwithstanding your best and…
The Calcio Storico in Venice is purported to be the most violent sport still practiced today. In fact, it has remained unchanged in the last 600 years. The Inside Story: The main thing I noticed in watching these films is that although they count score as a team, they tend to compete as individuals. They…
Last Friday night Academie Duello and the Social Concierge hosted an elegant tournament and demonstration of swordplay at the Vancouver Club in downtown Vancouver. The evening involved performances from the Vancouver Opera, Champagne Sabreing with various historical swords, a beautiful decked out ballroom, and an invitational rapier tournament of Academie Duello's senior students. The event,…
Read More... from Photos and Comments From the Duelling Arts Rapier Tournament
This Spring Academie Duello is bringing our Falconry program back! With a pirate twist! Academie Duello’s Parrot Taming and Training program is under development with our first course to be offered in June. Advanced registration will be opening up next week. Details to be announced. About the Program’s Origins For many centuries, the taming and…
Read More... from Bird Taming and Training Returns to Duello with a Twist
Human cooperation is a wonderful thing, and it’s my belief that cooperation is the singular reason why humanity has thrived. Although a single performer can put on a one-man show, theatre is most often a group effort. Filmmaking is nearly always done in teams. How do you fit into a team? What makes a good…
This afternoon we finished up our final day of training for the Duelling Arts Rapier Tournament at the Vancouver Club. This is part tournament and part spectacle; a hand picked roster of 8 senior Duello students will be fencing in a series of matches over the course of an evening of fine dining and cocktails,…
Read More... from Finding Your Centre - The Day Before the Tournament
We're thrilled to welcome back Robert Borsos of Borsos Torsz Horse Archery Club to teach two workshops on Saturday May 3rd: Horseback Archery - Beginner In this three hour workshop you will spend an hour and a half on the ground learning the fundamentals and body mechanics of Hungarian style horse archery. You will then…
I hope you’ll forgive Us, but the demands of the Ukraine-Russian situation have resulted in the total loss of my ‘free time’ of late (We just had a 71 hour work week … and We still have over a hundred herps to care for once we’re home!) So … We’ll just peddle our bike past…
The weather is getting warmer, the horses are shedding their Winter coats, the days are getting longer and brighter, and Academie Duello along with Red Colt Equestrian Farm Co-op are gearing up for our next Introduction to Mounter Combat workshop. Experience the childhood fantasy of being a knight as you take the first step into…
Read More... from Spring Is Springing and A New Intro to Mounted Combat Is Beginning!
Our next round of Beginner's Courses are just around the corner! Celebrate the start of Spring by swinging swords and pulling punches. We offer three different courses which cover different avenues of Western Martial Arts: Fight Like Sherlock Holmes Bartitsu is a complex martial art with many interlocking skills. Our four-week Fight Like Sherlock Holmes course…
Read More... from Start at the Beginning: April Courses at Academie Duello
If you want to imagine your ability to fence as a rating out of 100, it would be impossible to pinpoint an exact score in any kind of meaningful way. To be able to say I’m a 75 and they’re a 70, thus I should be able to defeat them isn’t relevant because its impossible…
Swordplay from the Ground: Armed Grapples and Disarms Sometimes, despite having a yard of steel in hand, the best option is not to "stick'em with the pointy end." Whether its because you are too close for blade play, or because you're worried that slicing your opponent open will devalue him on the ransom market, the…
Everybody is talking about season 2 of Vikings which premiered on History Channel just a few weeks ago. Loosely based on the famous Norse saga known as the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, which was a sequel to the Völsung Saga, the series has gathered quite a following and various blogs and social media sites are a buzz…
Read More... from Facts and Foibles from History Channel's Series "Vikings"
Have you ever experienced a supreme frustration with learning? The feeling that you’re just not getting something; that a concept or technique is just beyond your reach and challengingly so or perhaps just not coming fast enough? This state of frustration is a core and natural part of the learning process. I don’t know that…
In the media summer is the silly season, but in the northern hemisphere of the equine world, March is prime time for goofy, bizarre, and downright alarming horse behaviour. So this week we'll take a break from swordplay and wrestling to tackle the question of how to ride those spooks. Staying in the Saddle There's…
We’re always fascinated by the variety and complexity of the different styles and techniques of historical swordplay that are being rediscovered and explored by our HEMA/WEMA peers. But a part too long neglected, is what happens when two historically-compatable but regionally separate styles meet? Let’s take the year 1550 as an example … An elder…
I have very specific ideas of how tournament training should figure into one’s overall martial development. I also don’t feel it is essential for all positive martial development; However you certainly can’t beat ramping up to a particular event, such as a tournament, for its ability to create an intense training environment. In a recent…
Read More... from Sparring Under Pressure: Staying Collected Using Scaling Speed Exercise
Swordplay from the Ground: unarmed grapples Wrestling was a large part of knightly combat, both from the ground and horseback. Not only did grappling provide a non-lethal method of taking hostages, it was sometimes the only option left when a knight had been disarmed, or when an opponent was too close for swordplay. In the…
Read More... from Up Close and Personal: Grappling from the Ground