Beginner's Courses in October: NEW COURSE!

This month, we are excited to introduce a new Beginner's Course: Fight Like Sherlock Holmes! This 4-class introductory course was created to better integrate students into our ongoing Bartitsu program and improve the learning process. Classes will take place on Saturdays from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. Each week, two hours to Fight Like Sherlock Holmes! Fight Like Sherlock Holmes…

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Carosella 2013: The tournament explained

Sunday September 29th is the Tournament portion of Carosella. There will be competitions for every level of participant, and plenty to watch for the general public.  Here's the low-down. Grooms' Competition Open to: Anyone with their own or a leased horse Cavaliere Program members with a minimum of Horsemanship 1 Format:  Teams of two will compete…

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Scarred by Sword Press

Modern scarification, like tattoos, can be seen as examples of various sub-cultures within the ‘mundane world’ using a unique version of badges representing tribal/group identification or indications of shared experiences.  And while most of the world are familiar with the use of scars as identifiers within African and Asian tribal systems, and some are familiar…

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Duello.TV: Rapier Defense, Sidesword Cutting, Longsword Defenses vs Low and Mid, Boar's Tooth

Greetings everyone,     This week I am in Chicago preparing for the Western Martial Arts Workshop in Racine, Wisconsin. This is a superb Western Martial Arts event put on by the Chicago Swordplay Guild and is one of the oldest running events of its kind in the world.    This week in our classes…

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How to Deliver Intention and Intensity

There was a recent study Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on how people evaluate musical performances in contests shows that hearing the audio matters less than viewing the musician perform, even compared with a no-audio video. Check out the summary at Scientific American's 60-Second Science Blog Condition 1: audio only (compare the music…

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Made to Measure Sword Press

We’ve written before on technologys' effect on our discipline, and We’ve another snippet that has real potential for adding to the production of period hilts and blades … or at least practice-only resin ones. We’re fully for any modern advance that can be worn under helmet, gorget or body armour that allows us to be…

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Is Open Hand Striking Better?

Bartitsu may be approached for historical authenticity, or as a practical method for self defense that happens to have interesting historical roots. Sometimes, the practical modern gentleman's defensive tactics are only different from the historical as a matter of preference, of efficiency, or focusing on different expectations. Here, we'll be talking about self-defense, not sport-fighting.…

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Class Videos Sept 2: Rapier Mechanics & Measure, Sidesword & Longsword Cutting Mechanics, Porta di Ferro in Longsword

Greetings everyone to the first fine week of September. This past weekend many Academie Duello members as well as friends from abroad including Paul Wagner of the Stoccata School of Defence in Australia and Samantha Swords from New Zealand joined in the annual Cascadia North Accolade Tournament. This year the event took place on the…

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Home from Cascadia North Accolade Tournament

I have finally managed to come down a bit more to earth since my return home from the Cascadia North Accolade Tournament this past weekend. Of course in classic Devon style, on the day of my return I went to the school, completely unloaded our trailers and trucks, headed home to do the same, then…

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Standardised Sword Press

We were intrigued by a quote from a following article: “I am not a master; nobody certified me”. How do we as a community ‘know’ that our various schools and ‘Fechtschules’ are in fact teaching an authentic form of HEMA/WMA?  And who ‘accredited’ the institution – if in fact accreditation as a HEMA/WMA study centre…

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