3rd Annual Western Martial Arts Workshop 2001 - NYC

The weekend of October 12-14 scheduled the 3rd Annual Western Martial Arts Workshop or WMAW which brought together a collection of schollers, practitioners and masters of historical western martial arts for the 3rd year since its inception in Chicago, 1999, followed by Toronto in 2000. The event was hosted by the Association for Historical Fencing or AHF. Despite the tragic attack on the WTC in New York, a strong solidarity in the WMA community prevailed, and the workshop proceeded on schedule. The numbers were less than expected due to many conflicts of scheduling, air fares cancelled, and simply the difficulty of travel. The AEMMA contingent also suffered and nearly didn't make it due to flight problems, inability to take rental vehicles across the border and the inability of acquiring fares for Amtrak. Despite these problems, 4 AEMMA representatives made their way to the workshop, along with the rest of the participants, practitioners, instructors and masters in attendance in what can collectively be considered another successful WMAW.

The venue was the infamous Riverside Church. The church buildings weres designed by Henry C. Pelton and Charles Collens. The two men rambled and searched through France and Spain for the finest gothic architecture in attempts to assimilate it and recreate it in a contemporary setting. Pelton and Collens had modeled the Riverside Church after a 13th-century gothic cathedral in Chartes, France and the cornerstone was laid on November 20, 1927. The event was split into three areas in the church, the assembly hall (photo below left), which was the main or central location of the event, followed by a pair of large rooms on the 9th and 10th floor of the church tower. The medieval atmosphere of the location, along with its fluted columns made for a very appropriate ambiance for the historical fencing event.

The event included a series of "public" presentations, each occupying approximately 1.5 hours and which were delivered by all instructors and masters over the course of the weekend. Separate classes of 3 hours in duration in either the 9th or 10th floors were scheduled concurrently for those students seeking advanced and more intense training and education. David Cvet delivered both the public presentation and the 3-hour class on armoured combat techniques, along with the assistance of Brian McIlmoye and Kelly Rekutas (a student at AEMMA).

The event was capped with a pair of tournaments, one being the early historical armoured tournament, judged by Brian McIlmoyle with the assistance of Bob Charron (St. Martin's Academy of Medieval Arms) and Ian Johnson (Schola Solis). The Sunday evening included the later historical fencing tournament. Details on the outcome of these tournaments will be posted in the more detail report found on the Association for Historical Fencing (AHF) site.

A notable event was the appointment of Brian McIlmoyle as "Acknowledged Instructor" designation by the International Masters at Arms Federation. Brian's appointment was accompanied by a similar appointment of "Acknowledged Instructor" to Bob Charron of the St. Martin's Academy of Medieval Arms. A third appointment was the invitation to Stephen Hand of the Stoccata School of Defence, Australia as an IMAF masters candidate.

We wish to extend our gratitude to Maestro's Ramon Martinez and Jeannette Acosta-Martinez's hospitality on Thursday evening in their home, and to Fawzi Al-Nawal, along with Ramon and Jeannette's energy and effort that went into this successful event.

The following are some of the classes and workshops captured. The presentation below is by no means a complete recording of the events over 3 days. We were "busy too" and therefore, the following is only a small sampling of the workshop. To view a video clip, click on the image in the video column.

Description	Head Shot	Video
William Wilson: Fabris' Rapier System William delivered this 1.5 hour hands-on presentation on Fabris' rapier system. Salvator Fabris was born in Bolgna in 1544. He crystallized the best of the 16th Century theory and practice. He was known to have travelled Germany, France and Spain and it is surmiossed that he studied fence in these countries. In 1606 he published "Sienz e Practica d'Arme" Fabris insisted he students use the thrust. He taught a flexible and supple play and also taught the use of the sword itself to parry with.		3.3MB
Bob Charron: Fiore Dei Liberi's Flos Duellatorum Bob delivered both a 1.5 hour public presentation and a 3-hour instructor's class on the techniques and principles as described by Maestro Fiore dei Liberi. Liberi wrote the treatise entitled "Flos Duellatorum" around 1409-1410. His manual describes a complete training system beginning with abrazare (grappling) followed by daga (dagger) and spada longa (longsword, unarmoured and armoured) along with pollaxe and mounted combat techniques.		1.65MB
Maestro Lorenzo Ravazzani: La Canne Italiana Lorenzo assisted by "Kosimo" delivered a master's class that began with a brief introduction to the history of Canne, with some examples of the fundamental movements. It proceeded with familiarizing the students with the nomenclature, guard, positions and principles of attack and defense.		3.8MB
David Cvet: Armoured Combat David along with the assistance of Brian McIlmoyle and Kelly Rekuta, both of AEMMA, delivered an instructor's class on armoured fighting techniques that focused on three essential skills: a) grappling techniques; b) dagger techniques; c) 1/2-sword techniques. The techniques were sourced primarily from Fiore dei Liberi's "Flos Duellatorum treatise, along with references to other supporting historical manuscripts.		3.7MB
Brian McIlmoyle, Bob Charron, Ian Johnson: Armoured Tournament The armoured tournament was administered by Brian, with the assistance of Bob and Ian and which followed the rules and structure as described the document "On the Undertaking of a Tournament", c1460 and other sources of the period. However, due to the low attendance, the tournament was morphed into a demonstration tournament. Both David Cvet and Kelly Rekuta faulted during the tournament. The "best among equals" was judged to be Ken Mondshein and who was presented with a rondel dagger.		2.4MB

We look forward to the next WMA workshop, scheduled for the fall of 2002 in Chicago. Hope to see everyone there.