Academie Duello in Monte Cristo magazine


Montecristo_cover

Monte Cristo Magazine, "the lifestyle quarterly for discerning,
cultured Vancouverites", has written a superb article about Academie
Duello in their most recent issue.

 

One part of our interview that I felt Amanda Jun (the reporter)
captured well, was our place in the modern world:

 

While a room adorned with swords and armour and full of people
duelling, grappling, and twirling quarterstaffs may appear entirely
anachronistic, Boorman has a brilliant riposte to the matter. “We’re
practising in a modern context,” he explains. “It’s a martial art with
a rich history, but we’re not recreationists. We’re not trying to
pretend we’re in the past—we’re practising now. In the same way that
some forms of karate have a rich history, when you go to a [dojo],
you’re not pretending to be in ancient Japan. And so, it’s the same
thing here. We’re modern people doing this.” To impress his point,
Boorman adds, “The other thing that I love about this being a modern
thing is that women get to do it. We have lots of women in our
programs—I think it’s because swords are a great equalizer.”

 

Devon Boorman is the Co-Founder and Director of Academie Duello Centre for Swordplay, which has been active in Vancouver, Canada since 2004. Devon’s expertise centres on the Italian swordplay tradition including the arts of the Renaissance Italian rapier, sidesword, and longsword, as well as knife and unarmed techniques.
Read more from Devon Boorman.