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Welcome to Broadsword for the Stage and Screen, the DeLongis Method. We will be examining the techniques for Broadsword that I have devised during thirty years of studying, teaching, choreographing and performing with the sword on both sides of the camera as both a performer and a Fight Director. Broadsword for the Stage and Screen is structured as a series of private lessons. Both the beginning actor and the experienced performer will learn professional level skills and techniques that get the job done with security and style. Instructors will find the syllabus structure progresses logically, each lesson building on the information taught in the previous sessions. Students are urged to follow the order of the lessons and not leap ahead or skip chapters.
GOALS:
Cultivate Balance, Safety and Sensitivity to your partner’s energy.
Hone basic physical skills
Develop Poise, Balance and Confidence
Develop Relaxation and Awareness
Connect both Body and Intellect into one powerful unit of expression.
CONTENTS:
Stance & Footwork - advance, retreat, male and female triangle, standard & reverse guards
Parries: Skeletal alignment creates an impenetrable “wall of steel”.
Cuts and Thrusts: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, “aim with the hands, deliver with the feet”
Drills: Working with partner develops an awareness of Distance and cultivates Timing while teaching our basic combat vocabulary.
Practice Weapons: The weapon should be balanced, its weight manageable and easy to control. Select one that fits your body and level of experience. It must feel and perform like a natural extension of your arm and body.
Footwork Summary: Move your feet! The story starts from the ground up. The entire body remembers the choreography, not just your head. The more of your body you use, the slower you can go and the faster it looks because some part of your body is always in motion guiding the eye and focusing the story.
Grip: I favor the same pivoting grip described in Rapier for the Stage and Screen, Vol. 1&2. You literally have finger tip control of the weapon at all times. Guide the blade but let it perform the action. Our safety protocol relies on fingertip control, accurate targeting, bent legs for balance and an awareness and sensitivity to distance.
Additional Elements:
Two Handed Parries
Gravity as an Ally
Cultivating Distance & Timing
Seeding or Yielding Parries
Deflections/Binds/Envelopment/Avoids or Thwarts/Wounds or Kills
Creating the Illusion: Cooperative vs. Combative Energy
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