Stage Combat Stances

Every martial art will first teach the student how to stand, and the ideal positions to fight from.

For actors in a stage fight, they must start with an appropriate stance for their weapon or historical period, combine that with their character's attitude, and sometimes add nuances of injuries or mannerisms.

Basic Stance

Standing upright with spine straight, the right foot facing the opponent, the left foot forming an "L", take a comfortable step forward with the right leg, and bend the knees. For safety, we keep the sword point below the partner's neck.

It looks like the standard modern fencing stance:

At the level of Basic Actor-Combatant, we perform all of our fights from this stance.

Historical Style

At Intermediate Level, we look at historical stances and how they relate to the weapon at hand. Here, we investigate various guards from Italian (for Rapier & Dagger) and German (for Longsword).

For rapier guards and stances, look at the differences between Capo Ferro, Salviolo, Fabris in terms of spine alignment, spacing of the feet, raising the heel, and use of the left hand.

When preparing any role, look up the historical use of the weapon, and try to bring your basic stance towards their ideal.

Heroes, Villains and Innocents

There are certain guidelines or stereotypes you can add to your stance to clearly show your story-function.

• Heroes generally puff out the chest, think of raising your sternum upwards. Don't lean too far back, or you'll fall into one of the following weaker types.
• Aristocrats, feeling superior and overconfident, hold their noses high and look down on their opponents. They'll often take an open guard, inviting an attack.
• Cowards want to be as far from their opponent's blade as possible. That usually means leaning backward, but if your partner's guard puts their blade on your left, you'll lean to your right.
• Innocents and those who have little experience fighting will try to mimic their opponent, thinking that they'll fight better by copying a better fighter. They also look around a lot (but keep yourself safe by keeping most of your focus on the action at hand).
• Villains are sneaky, and will use the left hand more often. That may be merely to hide their face, or flutter their cloak for distraction.
• Weaklings and servants are the only type to slouch or allow their chest to sink in.
• Clowns can still fight, and can often use deep stances. Don't be tempted to skip around or straighten your legs too much. The clown is nimble, and will use a lot of cross-steps and unexpected angles to evade attacks rather than parry them.

Sources of Inspiration

Many forms of Chinese Kung-Fu are based on animal forms, and finding an animal appropriate to your character is often a direct way to find a good physicality for your stage combat stance. Are you a stalking cat? A baboon? Is your squad of soldiers like pack of wolves, or a frenzy of sharks?

Changes

Remember that injuries are physical and emotional. A wound to the leg will not only impede movement, but may enrage your character as well. How much does that affect your base stance, your rhythm, your tactics?

Try to make every change in the circumstances of your fight reflect on your movement. In Beauty and the Beast, the fight certainly changes when Belle arrives on stage. In Hamlet, every break in the action has lines that give clues to the character changes which should show in the subsequent choreography.