Overall? Brilliant. Very, very, very good. Fantastic. I thought you guys did a very good job of running the weekend and bringing everyone together. John was perhaps the perfect choice to bring in as a special guest... here's a guy who has the right amount of skill, confidence, sincerity and charm to keep a whole room of fighters captivated (both in the workshop and in the pub). It was incredible how much he knew about various forms of combat, and he was very generous and gracious about sharing these. Somehow he was just an inexhaustible resource of some very, very cool moves, and I honestly could have spent a whole class watching him ward off various attacks in yet another way. At the same time though, I think one of the really beneficial parts of his classes was the fact that we always had lots of time to play and explore. He also really listened to each question you asked. I would definitely love to have MORE! Is what I'm saying!! This year I really felt I came away with techniques and ideas that I could actually use. Once again it brought home just HOW MUCH there is to learn in this field.
Cutlass: I was a bit disconcerted when we first started this, in that somehow I seemed to find a weapon that only had three cuts and was taught to untrained pirates a little confusing. However, when I found out that other people felt the same way I was comforted. Once again, I felt like I just wanted to soak up all the moves John was showing us - for each new attack there was another brilliant reply. He also had an incredible amount of historical, practical and logical knowledge from his research and experience which I felt was really important in attacking/replying truthfully to the weapons and situation - the fact that he could put it in an accurate historical context, and consider the moves based on the real ship fighting environment, was very enlightening.
Fighter types: This was a really interesting concept to explore - especially considering the work we've done in fighting form. It's useful to have another way to think about the 'acting' in a fight - especially as its coming from John's personal experiences. It was interesting to explore attitude and the points of 'change' in attitude, which I suppose is linked to but a little distinct from 'intention'.
Breakables: As would be expected, I thought you guys taught this really well. It was something I had never been shown before and I think is really, really useful and important to know. Especially, as Ruth said that anyone really if they wanted could walk up and hit someone else over the head with a breakable bottle. However, it’s even better to know how to not only do it safely, but how to create the best-looking effect. I liked the fact that we were able to create our own scenes, and really enjoyed watching everyone’s.
Kali: Coooool. Ouch, but cool. I think the inter-digital space between my thumb and forefinger was swollen for a good 3 days thanks to the handshakes from these guys (yes, I found out that I do have a pressure point there after all). I really enjoyed playing round with the moves from these guys- although it was a little scary when they used sentences such as “well, normally we’d actually bring our hand in fast like THIS to break their arm, and then snap their wrists like THIS”... ‘Normally’ when? It was also a little scary how obviously masochistic we all are to various extents, judging by how much we all seemed to enjoy being forced to the ground in pain. Once again though, these guys really knew their stuff and they were great to watch, and once again it was fantastic that we had a really good chance to play. I think I was again left with just the right balance of feeling like I could take something away from the session, but would love to come back and learn more (and obviously there’s LOTS more to learn).
Pub: oooooh, lovely. It was a great atmosphere and lovely crowd to be with. I could listen to everyone swap stories for a good many gin and tonics yet.
Kalaripayettu: I really enjoyed this too. I’d never come across this martial art before, and I really like the ritualistic nature to it. Also learning one whole side of the fight before the other was quite cool, in that it’s nice every now and then to get ourselves out of certain habits or patterns, and challenge ourselves to think or learn in a new way. I thought this was a good mental and physical challenge.
Weaponry: I wanna buy the sabre.
Kubala and cube: I found this class fascinating... and would like to go into it further. I had the impression this was a technique where you really do just need to spend hours playing – it’s one thing to watch someone else do it, but you need to feel it yourself.
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable and I took a lot from it. It was another one of those experiences which opened your eyes, yet again, to even more forms of martial arts (and left you feeling quite small in the Land of Knowledge). I felt it was a really 'safe' and encouraging atmosphere where everyone seemed really comfortable to explore, play and interact. Well done again guys!
I loved it all! I would say that my favorites were the Kali, John's Cutlass, boarding axe workshop and Swashbuckling was great fun but I really enjoyed all of the workshops and would happily do any of them again. It so much fun learning other styles and disciplines and gives you a great deal to think about, like how to incorporate some of the work into our stage combat in the future, i.e. John's character types.
Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown were magnificent hosts, and very skilled themselves in combat training and instruction. Their students were quick learners and in general, quite skilled. It says a lot about their proficiency as instructors. It was good to see such stage fighters with such eagerness to learn historic styles, and their desire to learn every aspect of the styles taught, not just some "cool moves" they could use on stage. This is due to the philosophy instilled into them by Rachel and Ruth. I took Kevin Rowntree's class at this workshop as well, and found it fascinating. It was wonderful to work with another fellow instructor in stage combat of whom I have heard, but hadn't ever met face to face. Thank you Kevin for the class and we will keep in touch and meet again for certain. John "Doc" Lennox
I really did love the weekend. I particularly enjoyed the swash buckling, Indian stick fighting, the breakables and also the kali (even though i swear one of them did attempt to break my thumb!!!) The weekend definitely affirmed my love for all things stage combat, so thanks again.
Thanks Very much for the weekend. Everyone was really friendly as usual and The chance to 'network' down the pub afterward didn't go amiss. The boarding
Axe and cutlass, kabala and the cube and everything were excellent. I feel Like i learned something cool there. And i got to prance about pretend to be a pirate and Inigo Montoya. What more could you want? Brilliant weekend. Thanks very much. |
