Two events are happening at Academie Duello next weekend. If you haven’t seen the size, decor and amenities at the school’s new location at 412 W. Hastings, you must attend. And if you know what a great facility it is, you’ll discover the new museum, and see some exciting performances.
Back by popular demand, I will be teaching another one-day workshop in Bartitsu. This time, it will be a more condensed 4 hours (2pm-6pm), and more physical.
Workshop January 23
Learn the fighting style of Sherlock Holmes in this unique one-day workshop at Academie Duello.
England in the 19th century was replete with instructors in martial arts from the world over. E.W. Barton-Wright had returned from Japan and opened a school to teach the English gentleman how to defend himself against ruffians using only the most effective techniques whether unarmed or carrying the accessory of the time: the walking-stick.
The Bartitsu system worked so well that Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle wrote that Sherlock Holmes used it to defeat Moriarty.
Learn:
English boxing, French kickboxing and the English interpretation of Judo
Stick fighting and self-defense with an umbrella
Modern urban self-defense evolved from the principles of Bartitsu
Whether your interest is in history or practical self-defense, this workshop will give you the skills and knowledge of 19th century fighting.
Only $60 (15% discount for members)
Register Now: Call 604.568.9907 or Drop by Academie Duello
412 W. Hastings St.
Check out the new trailer for the upcoming documentary:
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The long-awaited announcement of the first Basic Actor-Combatant Certification course at Academie Duello.
First Class: Monday, 18 January 2010 Time: 8 pm – 10 pm Duration: 18 January – 26 March (10 weeks) Place: Academie Duello, 412 W. Hastings, Vancouver, BC
Mondays: Basic Sword
Learn the fundamentals of sword for the stage and screen. The Fight Directors Canada basic level of sword is practiced with sabre-hilted epees, in order to be adaptable to many international and historical sword systems, with the utmost concern for the safety of performers and the excitement of the action. From swashbuckling cutlass to Persian short sword, the FDC system is a universal foundation that is essential for the actor or stunt-person.
Wednesdays: Basic Quarterstaff
Staff training gives the student coordination using both hands on a weapon that uses a lot of space. Circular and linear attacks combine with different ways of handling the staff make the weapon challenging and versatile. Eastern and Western martial arts incorporated various kinds of staves and spears, so this discipline is important in many contexts.
Fridays: Basic Unarmed
Throwing a good punch is a tiny part of unarmed fighting, even without considering martial arts styling. The most common need for the stage are slaps and falls. We cover many techniques of attacks, defenses, hair pulls, chokes, and all the violence that looks untrained and brutal.
Saturdays: Extra Practice (optional)
Starting mid-way through the course, students will have the opportunity to come in on Saturdays for additional time to rehearse their scenes. This is supervised time, but will not contain additional tutoring or instruction.
Fight Directors Canada Certification
Fight Directors Canada is internationally recognized quality, and the only stage combat training officially recognized by the Canadian Actors Equity Association. Learn the foundations:
Unarmed combat
Quarterstaff
Sword
It’s not just weapons, FDC emphasizes:
Safety: You need to move with high speed and intensity, without risking any kind of injury.
Storytelling: It’s not a game, it’s part of the play/movie… learn to incorporate combat into a scene.
Style: Techniques change based on history and geography. Learn a versatile system.
Note that FDC Certification at the Basic Actor-Combatant level requires 60 hours of training, a written exam and the evaluation of an FDC Fight Master.
What’s Included?
10 weeks of instruction and practice.
Over 60 hours of training
The FDC glossary
Written exam
Practical exam with Fight Master J-P Fournier
Membership in FDC until September 2011
Exam Details
There are two parts to the final examination: a written test and a practical test. Written test:
90 minutes
Demonstrate knowledge of terminology
Show understanding of principles of all 3 weapons and theatrical concerns
Practical Exam:
Performance of one scene for each weapon (3 scenes). Each scene will have:
About 2-3 minutes total length
Text from a published play
Different partners
Demonstration of acting and stage combat skills
Safety for the performers and the audience
No need for costumes or other staging
Cost
$1,000 for the course, including materials and testing mentioned above.
Can I Not Do The Whole Thing?
If, for whatever reason, you can’t take the whole course, or you’re not interested in certification with FDC, there are a couple of options:
You may take any one class (Sword Monday, Quarterstaff Wednesday or Unarmed Friday) for $300.
You may certify in one weapon (Sword, Quarterstaff or Unarmed) for an additional $100.
Note that if you certify in one weapon, you will not receive a certificate to that effect. FDC only certifies actor-combatants who complete the level. In order to complete your official certification, you’ll have to pass the other weapons within 12 months. If you choose to take the class but not do the certification test, you may not list FDC certification on your resume. Most students will be certifying and need partners to fight with them on test day. If choose not to certify from the start, we will try to avoid those partnering issues and you will not be obligated to come to the test day.
Sign Up ASAP
Call Academie Duello 604-568-9907 for information or to sign-up for any of our programs or Drop by 412 W. Hastings in Vancouver, BC. Space is limited to 8 students!
Good climaxes like this one from Rob Roy are not only exciting fights that are well performed, but also reflect the themes and actions in the rest of the story:
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It’s the point where the tension gets so high that something snaps. Psychological tension is released by physical action. It’s usually either a fight or a kiss. In a romance, the two lovers are kept apart by their own misunderstandings or by forces outside their control until they overcome the odds, and embrace. In most other forms of drama, the climax is an explosive fight. Even in romances, there are often fights along the way as mini-climaxes or complications to the plot.
Characters talk and tension builds up, they form goals, and they meet obstacles. Eventually, things get physical. In order to achieve, they have to overcome their greatest obstacle. That obstacle is the villain, and vanquishing the villain is usually done in combat.
High Stakes
Remember that the play is the most important time in your character’s life. The climax is the single most important moment within that story, and is usually a life-or-death struggle.
The question for actors, directors, and anyone in the process is this: If the climax of your production is a fight, and that is the most important part of your show, wouldn’t you want to devote more time, energy and resources to that moment than to any other?
Or think about the opposite question: Is the fight in your play a disappointment?
Beyond Genre
Maybe you have a kitchen-sink drama, and the climactic violence is a single slap. The slap is the culmination of frustrations of both characters. It is the physical release of every emotional step before it. It is the turning point and the instant when words fail. That slap has to be perfectly executed, because if it looks fake it has ruined your show.
Maybe you’re doing Hamlet. You have four hours of internal conflict and interpersonal drama that culminates in a duel between Hamlet and Laertes. In that scene, everyone important dies. Earlier, we had the death of Polonius, but that merely heightened the tension. We had Ophelia going mad and we hear that she drowned herself. Important events, but we are still waiting for the moment when Hamlet will avenge his father. We can’t bear him to choose “not to be” and give up. In the critical fight at the end, Hamlet overcomes. Although he dies, he takes all the evildoers with him.
The fight is 5 minutes compared to the rest of the play’s 240 minutes. Does that determine its importance? No way. The fight and the deaths in the final act have to be planned from the first rehearsal, with plenty of time to choreograph and perfect the moves. Otherwise the audience will feel cheated of those arduous 240 minutes if you don’t give them a spectacular final fight.
Proportion
I’d go so far as to say that the longer the build-up — the more time is spent on talking and non-fighting — the more time must be spent rehearsing the fight scene. If you have a 5-minute skit, spend a few minutes on the fight. If you have a 60-minute Fringe show, devote a few hours with a fight choreographer to getting the violence right. If you’re doing a full-length play, spend one out of every 4 hours of rehearsal on stage combat. And if you’re doing a fight-heavy show, consider that maybe that’s what the audience came to see, and spend more time on fights than you do on acting.
I’m not exaggerating or thinking only of a fight director’s ideal world… think about The Three Muskateers. People go to that play to see the swordfights. People bring their kids because they know it will be exciting because of the action and the fights. And if that’s the major draw, then make it the majority of the rehearsal time.
Reality Check
Directors: give yourself a reality check. Your mind is full of each character’s motivations, the set construction, the symbolism of your chosen props, and all kinds of details. Take a step back and just focus on the climax of your story. If it’s a fight, will it be a fizzle? If so, all your other work will be for nothing.
I just read that Bridgeman Savate teaches not only the traditional stick and cane as part of their curriculum, but they also teach chair. So I got curious, and did a little YouTubing.
Here’s a vintage karate demonstration:
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What I find interesting is the Bridgeman Savate actually have a method to hold the chair and use it as a weapon, as opposed to the foregoing videos which show defenses from a seated position.
With your right hand, grasp the right side of the back of the chair just above the seat. Whilst lifting the chair grasp the right forward leg with your left hand. From this position snap the chair up to assume on-guard facing your assailant. This is done by stepping forward with your left foot so your feet are about shoulder width apart with knees flexed. The tip of the left forward leg of the chair is the thrusting point and plays a critical part in aligning the chair.
This is an excellent topic for exploration of the Advanced Actor-Combatant in their Found Weapon portion of FDC certification. A chair is completely unlike other weapons, and offers many possibilities. An umbrella can be used like a sword and a ladder like a staff, but a chair is a three-dimensional volume with legs pointing out one end, and really takes some time to figure out. I’m looking forward to trying some experiments for myself (since flying to Australia for a chair workshop is a little extravagant).
Thanks to Bonzuko for bringing this to my attention.
In this great assemblage of film fights, we see the changes in fight scene choreography and shooting style over time. I had a great time seeing these classics again, and appreciating them afresh for the commentary in the sidebar. Novices and old-hands at fight direction will enjoy this examination of pivotal scenes.
Like evolution, it may look like a progression toward something better and more perfect. In reality, it is like real evolution: an expression of the best fit to the environment… in this case it’s the cultural environment that the film fits itself to. Style is not something linked to a particular year or a particular country, even though critics would have you think it is when they talk about “German Post-War Cinema”. The directors who make work of value use style to enhance their story and express their film’s goals. So the style changes are not a ladder or even a meandering road, but a choice made for each movie as it is planned, shot and edited – subject to the knowledge and technology of the time, of course.
Many of the examples given are iconic movies that are not typical of their era anyway, and in most cases are completely unique examples of the art. In that way, it is even more difficult to see general trends in movie-making and cinematography and generalize an “evolution”. On the other hand, why watch all the mediocre fight scenes of every year just to see what all the sheep are doing?
I’d rather watch great fight scenes like the ones in this list (some clips have been removed, so you’ll have to look them elsewhere).
3 Hours of Unarmed Stage Combat
3 Hours of Sabre for the Stage
Stage Combat Fundamentals in One Day
To perform fights on stage, there are two elements: performer safety and the illusion of violence. When you want to look like you’re trying to kill someone, it’s a bad idea to improvise. The fight looks like crap and people get hurt.
In this intensive one-day workshop, we’ll cover the basics of stage combat, including:
Slaps
Punches
Hair Pulls
Chokes
Falls
Sword parries and footwork
Sword attacks
Wounds and death
Important and Convenient
Anyone who performs fights for entertainment needs to know these essentials, whether you’re acting in plays or film, or performing fight demonstrations.
It’s at Academie Duello, conveniently located in downtown Vancouver.
It’s happening on a Saturday, a one-day commitment, ending early enough that you still have your evening to see a show and enjoy the rest of your weekend. It’s also affordable to anyone who has an interest: $80 for the full day.
More Info
Keep yourself safe and look like an action hero. Register by dropping by Academie Duello: 422 Richards Street (upstairs), or call 604-568-9907. We have a Facebook Event here: Facebook | Slaps & Slashes Stage Combat.
I’ve been away from the blog for a few weeks, at the FDC National Workshop in Waterloo, then the process of moving from Toronto to Vancouver. In the meantime, there have been a few news items about stage combat, and I’ve picked three for you today: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
…does “Jersey Boys” really need a fight director? I realize this is a story about some sketchy guys from New Jersey, but c’mon. This wasn’t exactly “Goodfellas the Musical.” Yeah, there are a few Tony Soprano-type moments, but I can hardly remember any real dustups in the play.
You, my readers, know that a few Soprano moments can mean a broken nose if you don’t have a fight director. But that’s not all. He goes on:
…“Romeo and Juliet.” What? I don’t recall any kickboxing or scissor holds in Shakespeare. A fight director for the Bard? Instead, how about a translator for those of us not too well versed in Shakespearean prose?
Is he just being inflammatory? Or is this critic “not too well versed in Shakespearean” anything? Even if the first scene of the play is not depicted as a major Capulet vs. Montague brawl (which it should be, since the Prince has to break it up on penalty of death), there are still two sword fights in which characters are mortally wounded on stage. Does Mike Morin believe a fight choreographer is not needed for major sword fights?
He follows up that article with somewhat of a retraction in his next item. He is schooled by one of the actors from Jersey Boys on the importance of a fight director here: Getting a lesson in musical theatre.
Edgerton accidentally hit Blanchett in the head with a ’60s-style radio. The impact could be heard in the audience and the actress and STC co-artistic director fell down on all fours. Several people said they could see blood streaming down the back of Blanchett’s head. She went off stage to fetch clothes for Stanley’s wife, Stella (Robin McLeavy), and used some of them to try to staunch the flow of blood.
A spokesperson reported that Cate is fine, and expects to continue the run immediately.
Kombat Kate provided invaluable pointers for stage combat, demonstrating just how much preparation theatrical fights need to be dramatically coherent, safe and effective. Combat is often the casualty of a short rehearsal period and a hamstrung budget – paying for fight choreography can seem like a luxury to the penniless young director or producer. But it’s not. A slapdash fight in which actors lose concentration and go too fast or slip out of control is a fight in which someone is going to get their nose broken or their ear-drum perforated, not to mention the fact that it will look rubbish on stage. Every fight tells a story in microcosm: working with a good fight director will help ensure that the narrative isn’t garbled.
To have a director publicly recognize the value of having a fight director is heartening. Although we like individual praise and good reviews, what we really need to cultivate is a culture that understands that the job itself is valuable… and in many cases it is indispensable.
Many characters suffer and die in plays and films. Some actors consider it to be the most fun scene, others think it’s the most challenging. How do you play a realistic death?
Well, you don’t do it like that scene from Enter the Ninja. So how do you research? I would not recommend Method Acting this one. You don’t need to experience dying to portray it for an audience. Instead, you can read about it from New Scientist.
Science and Speculation About Morbid Events
The researchers at New Scientist took evidence from various sources to create subjective descriptions of the events leading to death for a number of scenarios. The information came from known medical processes, accounts from near-death survivors, and autopsy data.
Drowning:
Victims first panic and try to hold their breath, typically for 30 to 90 seconds. Survivors have reported a “tearing and burning” sensation as water enters the lungs – but it is quickly followed by a feeling of calmness and tranquility. Oxygen deprivation results in loss of consciousness, the heart stopping and brain death.
Heart attack:
A “squeezing” chest pain, or feeling of pressure, is the most common symptom as the heart muscle struggles for oxygen. Disruption of the normal heart rhythm effectively stops the heart beating. Loss of consciousness can occur in about 10 seconds and death can follow minutes later.
Loss of blood:
Marked by several stages of “haemorrhagic shock”. Anyone losing 1.5 litres of blood feels weak, thirsty and anxious. By the time two litres are lost, people experience dizziness, confusion and eventual unconsciousness.
Electrocution:
A household electric shock might stop the heart, leading to unconsciousness after around 10 seconds. Higher currents through the heart or brain can produce almost immediate unconsciousness. However, it has been claimed that prisoners executed with the electric chair may actually have died from heating of the brain or suffocation.
Fall from a height:
Survivors of great falls often report the sensation of time slowing down. A study of 100 suicide jumps from San Francisco’s 246-ft-high Golden Gate Bridge found numerous cases of instantaneous death involving collapsed lungs, exploded hearts or damage to organs from broken ribs.
Hanging:
Hanging suicides and old-fashioned executions cause death by strangulation. This can lead to unconsciousness in 10 seconds but a poorly placed noose may result in many minutes of suffering. “Long drop” hangings are designed to break the neck. But a study of the remains of 34 prisoners executed in this way found that four-fifths died partly from asphyxiation.
Fire:
Burns inflict intense pain, and boost the skin’s pain sensitivity. As superficial nerves are destroyed, some feeling is lost – but not much, according to experts. But most people who die in fires are actually killed by inhaling toxic gases and asphyxiation.
Decapitation:
Beheading can be swift and painless but consciousness is believed to continue for a short time after the spinal cord is severed. Experts have calculated that the brain might remain functioning for seven seconds. Reports from guillotine executions in France cited cases where movements of the eyes and mouth were seen for up to 30 seconds.
Death From Combat
For those who die fighting (my speciality), whether in battles or duels or assassinations, take a close read of the section on Loss of blood. It mentions haemorrhagic shock, and here’s a reference table:
Classification of Hemorrhagic Shock (adapted from SOGC Clinical Practice Guidelines, #115, June 2002):
Compensated
Mild
Moderate
Severe
Blood Loss (ml)
≤1000
1000–1500
1500-2000
>2000
Heart rate (bpm)
<100
>100
>120
>140
Respiration
Normal
Mild Increase
Moderate tachypnea
Marked tachypnea: respiratory collapse
Mental status
Normal or agitated
Agitated
Confused
Lethargic
I would describe this to an actor as a whole body progression (mind, breathing, and physical strength) from Elevated to Irregular to Depressed, then unconsciousness and death. At first, breathing is faster – even faster than when fighting – the mind is racing as well, which might be shown as darting eyes or faster speech. Next, everything gets messy: Breathing is irregular, speech may be halting or stuttering, and if the person is not already on the floor, they will fall down from weakness in the legs and dizzyness. In their final moments of consciousness, play the slowing of the breath, slow speech, slow movement.
For wounds in general, remember that almost everyone tries to cover a puncture or cut of any size. Wherever the character was injured, put your hands there and push. This will also focus your mind on the source of your pain while the audience clearly understands what’s going on. As a bonus, we can conveniently use less stage blood (or no blood), and still have a believable death scene. For added detail, remember that the loss of blood is a loss of fluid, so the character will be thirsty.
If you’re lucky enough that your director gives you a lengthy death scene, I hope these tips help you sell it.
I taught bartitsu and neo-bartitsu this past Sunday at Academie Duello. This was an all-day workshop from 10am to 5pm. Although the day was hot, and we had to share the salle with the secondaries workshop happening concurrently, I consider it a success.
Attendance
We had 6 participants, which was an ideal number for this workshop. Next time, I’ll aim for a larger group only if we have the whole space. As it stood, neither group was cramped, and on a sweltering day, that’s important.
Outline
10 am: Warm up, introduction to Bartitsu
Meet attendees
Discuss context and history
Physical warm up
Tactics: avoidance (e.g. walk in middle of street)
“Lighter stick” drills (preemptive strike to head, throw/kick/hook/figure-4)
“vs boxer” drill (jump to outside, turn 180, strike knee/shin)
Open umbrella as cloak for leg attack
Video
Here is a 6-minute clip from the workshop. This is towards the end (after 4pm) when I was discussing Neo-bartitsu. We had already done umbrella, and added comments about knife defense.
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If my participants would like to use the comment section below, I’d love to hear your reactions to the workshop. Did anything surprise you? What was your favourite section? Did you think of any questions afterwards?
Thank you for all your help and advice – our Unarmed wouldn’t have been as deliciously creepy as it was without your suggestions – I can’t wait to work with you in Vancouver. — Chelsea Thompson, Basic student, FDC National Workshop 2009
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Jan 31, 2010 
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Fight Directors Canada is internationally recognized quality, and the only stage combat training officially recognized by the Canadian Actors Equity Association. Learn the foundations:
3 Hours of Unarmed Stage Combat