Description of Bolognese swordsmanship workshop at Swordfish 2013

This video shows most of the exercises that were practiced in the workshop I ran at Swordfish event in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2013. The workshop presented a progression from basic actions and concepts to more free fencing -like exercises. The basic actions were the mandritto and riverso cuts (from right and left side), the stoccata and imbroccata thrusts (from below and above), passing steps forwards and backwards and parrying with falsi and dritti (with false edge and true edge) and subsequently riposting with any of the attacks mentioned. The concepts presented were the provocations, most importantly the invitation and the beat (on the opponent’s blade), and their relation to the five tempi (opportunities for wounding the opponent). A detailed discussion of these concepts will be done in another video. Also included are cuts to the legs and how to defend against them, and an excellent flow drill we use to quickly internalize the different motions and to build stamina in the arm wield