At this week’s practice, we had a larger turn-out than usual. Galen, Verena, and Finn are the usual crowd, but Ayisha was visiting from out of town and we have a new person named Clark who recently started school at the University. This meant that the drills for the evening needed to be divided into […]
Archive for the ‘Giganti’ Category
Drills of the Week #2: November 1, 2018 Leave a comment
Core Italian Rapier Drills: Drills of the Week #1 1 comment
The popularity of historic martial arts has exploded over the last few years, but learning how to fence from historical fencing treatises can be difficult. One of the most common errors I’ve seen people make is to fail to become proficient with the core actions and drills of a historic fencing system before plowing ahead […]
How to avoid being one-shotted 2 comments
Step 1: Form a Counter Guard. Step 2: There is no step 2.
First Giganti Redux 13: Cuts Leave a comment
At this point, defense against cuts has already been pretty thoroughly covered in the recent discussion of tempo and in the discussion of Second Giganti, in chapters I, II, and III. What follows is a rough summation of those lessons. When discussing cuts it’s always worthwhile to remember Di Grassi’s (and others’) admonition that the […]
First Giganti Redux 12: Sword and Dagger 2 comments
In single rapier the sword divides the world into two halves, the inside and the outside. Attacks are generally described as being on the inside or outside line (with variants high and low, and at various angles). To cover these two lines, you have one weapon. In sword and dagger you have a world divided […]
First Giganti Redux 11: Bodywork Leave a comment
Bodywork Most ancient masters and modern instructors discuss footwork and bladework as the means of controlling access to your target area and creating access to your opponent’s target area. “Bodywork” – the movement of your torso to achieve these same goals – is rarely addressed except in the context of the voids previously addressed (ducking […]
First Giganti Redux 10: Voids Leave a comment
During a normal find or parry, the sword is moved laterally or vertically to close the line. During a void, the body is moved laterally or vertically from the open line to a closed line. This bodywork can also be applied without active voids, as we’ll discuss. Voids against attacks on the inside The […]
First Giganti Redux 9: Passing Steps 1 comment
Moving on from theory and swordplay it’s worth taking a moment to discuss the footwork Giganti employs beyond the lunge. He barely addresses advances as most fencers understand them (step the front foot forward, bring the back foot up to end in guard), and they may or may not exist in his system at all […]
First Giganti Redux 8: Feints 4 comments
Up until now the basic tactics of Italian Rapier have been to set yourself in guard so that your opponent’s line of attack is closed (limiting their options) and, when they give you a tempo by performing a predictable action in measure (either stepping to measure, stepping laterally, performing a disengage, or attempting to beat […]
First Giganti Redux 7: Cavazione 2 comments
There are three actions that are the basic elements of the Italian Rapier decision tree: Gaining the blade, lunging, and performing a cavazione. Really, the majority of actions in Italian Rapier are going to boil down to one of these things. Gaining the blade and lunges have already been discussed, so it’s probably a good […]