Artistic fencing through the eyes of world champions. Musketeer games - artistic fencing Artistic fencing Zvenigorodskaya

Head of the studio - Ivanov Dmitry Alexandrovich- actor, director and stuntman, senior lecturer at the Department of Stage Plastics at GITIS, Candidate of Masters of Arts in art fencing, silver medalist of the German championship in stage fencing and champion of Russia in art fencing.

"Stage fencing is a combination of plastic and acting skills, choreographic precision and coordinated actions of partners in skillful use of weapons. This is the revelation of the psychology of the fight through the drama of the fight and the development of the character's image in extreme conditions of the fight."

“It is one of the mandatory professional disciplines in the training of an actor, and also exists as an independent direction in tune with artistic or staged fencing.
Reminds, explains and educates in modern man such concepts as honor and dignity."

Stage fencing studio "VOLTE" was founded in 2009.

During its existence, the studio took part in the festivals “Silver Sword” (Moscow), “Romance of the Middle Ages” (Kolomna), “Festival of Staged Fencing” (Moscow), “Fencer’s Day” (St. St. Petersburg), “Festival of Street Theaters” (Yaroslavl), “Silver Ring of the Blade” (Moscow), “Arena” (Vidnoe).

And also in the Russian Art Fencing Championship, and in International Championship Germany in stage fencing.

3 centuries have passed since the times of Dumas and Sabatini, but the beauty and romance of this era are still alive. Do you remember these wonderful films that are close to many hearts - “Midshipmen”, “The Three Musketeers”? Artistic fencing is what makes them spectacular and authentic. It's not just fencing skills, physical training, stagecraft, but also sincere Love for the era of knights and beautiful ladies.

Artistic Fencing is what brings back this era to us.

Artistic fencing is a duel staged and brought to perfection, when the masters, getting used to their roles, according to the script and without editing cuts, act out the duel as a single whole, recreating the pictures days gone by and contractions. The work takes place without protection, with strict safety precautions, real fencing techniques and creative acting.

We challenge virtual life, unloved work, and obsession with financial gain.

We want to free ourselves from surfing the Internet and get a taste of real life, real combat, excitement, feel the strength of our hands and the endurance of our legs!

We want to create our own scenarios and let you bring your ideas to life. We want to positively influence the world around us! We want to grow into full-fledged theatrical productions, where there is text, acting, passion, honor, sword, nobility!

Artistic fencing is:

• Physical education;
• Fencing;
• Combat acrobatics;
• Stage combat without weapons;
• Basics of acting;
• Historical and cultural heritage;
• Hobby;
• A breathtaking theatrical costume show!

Feel like a brave musketeer, a desperate pirate or a cold-blooded aristocrat.

You can...

• Try on the role of your favorite characters from books and films - nobles and musketeers, midshipmen and pirates, heroes and adventurers.
• Feel the excitement of the fight, the drive of the fight.
• Get involved in national and world history
• Learn to control your body.
• Learn theatrical techniques and tricks of stage combat and combat acrobatics.
• Find like-minded people.

Get ready for battle, just like in the good movies!

We create conditions to meet people's needs:

• in cultural, creative, intellectual and spiritual development;
• We realize creative potential;
• we create conditions for the socialization of young people;
• We develop forms of leisure in accordance with modern world cultural development.

The fencing rally, which united fighters from the Staritsky, Moscow, Balashikha and Rzhev branches of the Club, ended successfully. We filmed a movie and gained invaluable experience!photo in VK

Results of fencing rallies "Summer 2017", 1st and 2nd shifts. Based on the results of the first shift, which took place at the end of June 2017, 14 videos with their own scenarios were created. Based on the results of the second July shift, there is only one video from the montage above. You can follow the release of the rest in the club diary in the VK group: https://vk.com/kaf_vysov. We present to your attention several videos with the participation of our students and the head of the art fencing club "Challenge"

Learning fencing just like that is interesting in itself. But it is much more interesting if there is an area of ​​application of this art. Some compete at championships, some take part in festivals and reconstructions, some organize professional performances, and for the second summer in a row we find an outlet in the form of amateur filmmaking.
First, we formulate ideas for scripts, then we write them ourselves, make storyboards, appoint props, camera operators, costume designers, assistant directors, make-up artists and, of course, we rehearse fights in advance and analyze the psychological state of our characters.
This summer we spent 2 shifts of 7 days each. Our plans included such scripts as “The Challenger”, “The Blacksmith’s Son”, “Sister’s Honor”, ​​“Do not Give Up”, “Anguard”, “Letter”, “Shadow” and “An Ordinary Miracle”. Most of them are short (5-9 minutes), but there are also longer ones. In most scenarios there were many people willing to participate, so sometimes they filmed the same thing, but with different actors in the lead roles.
In January 2017, organizational preparations for the rally began. In April they began rehearsing fights and roles.
From June 26 to July 2, the first shift “shot”, and from July 22 to July 28, the second shift. Filming took place in Bernovo, Staritsa (Museum of Local Lore, the house of the merchant Filippov, Praskov-Pyatnitskaya Church, the city itself) and in Chukavino (historical ensemble and the Chukavino Country Complex).
Both children and parents participated in the filming, and with great enthusiasm: there was not a single person for whom there was not a role, or an organizational use that was invaluable for the film crew. For me, as a production director, these were two wonderful shifts: my guys from Moscow, Balashikha, Staritsa and Rzhev became wonderful friends and worked harmoniously with each other. The volunteer film crews did a great job, and I think we’ve made a good step forward compared to 2016’s The Chase.

Artistic fencing through the eyes of world champions

In September Russian teams took part in the World Artistic Fencing Championships in San Marino for the first time. Representatives from 11 countries competed in the competition: Norway, Portugal, Czech Republic, Belgium, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, San Marino and Russia. The Russian team has 3 gold medals. Two of them were won by the Fencing team (RGUFK-RAMT) from Moscow.

Correspondent of the official website of the International Charitable Foundation “For the Future of Fencing” Tatyana Kolchanova met with the members of this team, its coaches and artistic director to get answers to the questions: “What is artistic fencing - a sport or an art? What should you pay more attention to - combat technique or entertainment, stage effects? Is dramaturgy needed? What are the requirements for staging performances, as well as for their evaluation? What future awaits the new sports discipline, balancing at the intersection of art and sport? Who and how came to artistic fencing? How did the world championship debutants manage to win over more experienced opponents in a new sport for Russia?”

We talked with the children and their teachers in the Blue Living Room of the Central House of Actors for several hours. They have not yet cooled down from their triumph in San Marino. They spoke emotionally, enthusiastically and a lot. And it took me a lot of work to summarize this material. Firstly, it was possible to find out how the concept is interpreted artistic fencing team leaders.

Artistic fencing is a method of conducting a conditional, pre-rehearsed fight. Such a fight should have story line, it can be supplemented with music, text, dances, tricks, etc. Participants in the performance fencing in costumes and weapons that indicate the era to which the plot they have chosen to stage the performance relates to. Also, the rules do not allow improvisation. That is, the audience is presented with a mini-performance based on fencing.

And for the coaches, the most difficult thing was to gather all the team members together. If for athletes there was a concept - a regime, daily training, then for actors it was difficult to choose a training time. They trained with pleasure and a healthy amount of courage after the end of the performances, when their fellow athletes had already closed their eyes. Leonid Lavrovsky recalls: “I did not participate in the World Championship, but was on the team at the Russian Championship. When an incentive appeared in the form of the official national championship, which was also a selection for the World Championship, we changed our attitude to training. So, in March we trained once a week, but since the end of April we trained almost every day, and some still stayed to train at night. When there is an incentive, then there is time for training.”

The “Fencing Mania” team managed to get to the World Championships, where they competed in two categories – “XVI century - modernity” and “Timeless, free style”. They became the best in both. I asked the guys if they believed in victory? Prokhor explained: “We have a comic motto: “Victory, vanity, world domination.” He was born at the training camp before the World Cup. We practiced an episode in which we all lunge at Gleb Kachan, and he should not give up immediately, but hold on until the end with a straight back. And then I said: “Imagine, the whole world is looking at you, and in your every movement you should read victory, vanity, world domination.” Everyone liked this motto.

Lada Mosharova recalls the difficulty with which each issue was born: “The guys didn’t take fencing seriously at first, this was the case when working on the “Wax Museum.” This number was given to us with great difficulty. But now it is almost a masterpiece. It was the same with A Night in Spain. Lena Tikhomirova and I could not convince them to stage this number. Then I said, we’ll do “In the Yard of Leftovers.” Imagine - a huge yard of scraps, a prince and a pauper. Then the guys shouted - no, let's have a Spanish theme instead. Then I set a condition - you will have a chaperone, and Lena said - Sonya Ivanova. They say, maybe they could invite an artist? And Lena answered - no, the artist can’t handle it. This requires real lunges, real fencing techniques. And when they came together on an idea, it was such a joy to work with them.”

And Roman Stepensky told how sometimes it was difficult for athletes to realize the acting concept: “I explained to Sonya how she should sit on my lap. Does not understand. Then I say, everything is simple - step forward, lunge, close. Understood".

In San Marino, the guys agreed not to go through all the episodes at speed during rehearsals. It was impossible to reveal all the cards ahead of time. But at some point it was necessary to check the movements according to the music, and I had to perform the episode at full speed. “Then Giovanni, the organizer, runs up and snatches the sword from my hands,” Roman recalls. - I do not understand what is going on. And he says, this is a hoax, the sword is not metal, as it should be, but plastic. I give him a weapon, and he understands that it is real, metal. He couldn't believe that it was possible to perform movements with a real weapon at such speed. We laughed."

There was one more episode that all team members were talking about. There was a day before the competition when everyone came to rehearsal. On the open stage where tourists walk, there were fights in every corner of the square, it was noisy, everyone was speaking different languages. It was the Russians' turn to rehearse on stage. The guys began to go through the “Museum” without music. And suddenly they realized that they were doing it in complete silence. Everyone stopped and just looked at them. The opponents were amazed by the strength and confidence of the team. “We agreed among ourselves,” explains Prokhor, “that during training we do not show everything in full force, we agreed not to sell the meaning of our numbers to anyone. Each was passed in short fragments. But even from just a few fragments of one performance, the opponents and judges realized that we represented a serious force. Our advantage was that we were all professionals - in acting or sports. We are all mastering the second type of activity. Some are fencing, others are acting. Our opponents are either under-performing actors or under-fencing athletes. Among them there are also just amateurs, people from the street who have united in clubs, hold festivals, and with great enthusiasm engage in acting fencing with their entire families.”

Another of our teams from Kolomna, representing the Center for Russian Military Culture “Svyatogor” at the championship, can also be called professionals,” says Roman. “They also won first place.” These guys are engaged in the reconstruction of the Kolomna Kremlin. Every day they conduct excursions and perform demonstration programs, hence the endurance. They perform in chain mail, they have real weapons that they forge themselves. Not everyone takes this as seriously as the Kolomna athletes; for many, the championship is just a mass celebration, hooliganism, which has nothing to do with history or fencing.”

The guys from the Fencing team believe that not only their skill, but also chance helped them win the championship. “Everyone performed in normal conditions,” says Prokhor, “but during ours, it started to rain. Only we managed to perform on the street stage; by drawing lots we got the first number. On stage, the hero of Sergei Gerasenkov was the first to die in the story, and the sky began to cry. After our performance, the competition was moved indoors. Two hours passed before the championship continued. And during these two hours everyone was talking only about our team’s performance.”

According to Gleb Kachan, artistic fencing does not yet have one important element- judging criteria. “Take, for example, figure skaters,” Gleb gives an example. - They evaluate the complexity of the elements - double axel, triple, etc. One skater can skate a clean program without using complex elements, while another can fall, but perform a four-revolution jump. And until clear evaluation criteria appear, artistic fencing will not be perceived as a full-fledged sport. Uniform rules must be developed so that competition participants understand what is required of them and why they receive certain points.”
So far our champions are practitioners. They go through mistakes and trials. Just like it was in ice dancing. IN figure skating, when dancing was included in the official competition program, the question arose - what is it? How can this be assessed? In the end, we simply agreed - what technical means can be used and what should not be. With their lives, with their victories, our pioneers show that the path of development they follow has the right to life. They are trying to combine the professionalism of actors and athletes, and this has already led to victory at the World Championship. But then we see famine in theory. There is no discussion of the technical approach to this sport. For now, this is territory where no one is fighting. This situation is beneficial for some. Because as soon as the conditions and rules of the game and their own language are determined, it will immediately become clear who is worth what. And yet, I believe that the time will come when artistic fencing will take its place in the history of our sport, and Russian masters will be able to achieve the same respect and honor as their colleagues from sport fencing.

Members of the Fencing team:

Alexey Longin, graduate of the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (GITIS). Currently he is an artist at the Moscow theater “Et Cetera” under the direction of A. Kalyagin. Busy in the plays: “Shylock”, “Newspaper “Russian Invalid” for July 18”, “The Secret of Aunt Melkin”. Acts a lot in films (“Hunting a Genius”, “Penal Battalion”, “Daughters and Mothers”, “Soldiers-11”, “Students-International”, “Thirty Years”, etc.) Performer of fights and stunts in the films: “Servant of the Sovereigns” ", "Shadowboxing-2", "New Land", etc. Director and producer of the first numbers of the "Fencing" team.

Sergey Gerasenkov, graduate of the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (GITIS). Currently, he is an artist at the Moscow Drama Theater named after M. Ermolova. Takes an active part in recording audio books (“Treasure Island”, “Black Arrow”, etc.). Conducts his own course on stage movement and plastic arts.

Gleb Kachan, graduate of the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (GITIS). Currently he is an artist at the Moscow Theater “School of Modern Play”. Performs with a solo program at the bard club "Glezdo Gharaillya" and at the evenings of the Theater Center "On Strastnom" (under the Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation).

Roman Stepensky, graduate of the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (GITIS). Currently he is an artist of the Russian Academic Youth Theater. Acts in films (“Antikiller-2”, “Last Weekend”, etc., performs fights and stunts in the film “Servant of the Sovereigns”).

Prokhor Chekhovskaya, graduate of the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (GITIS). Currently he is an artist of the Russian Academic Youth Theater. While still a student he was introduced to main role in the play "Little Lord Fauntleroy". Acts in films (“The Return of Mukhtar”, “Airport”, “Satisfaction”, “Don’t Be Born Beautiful”, “Kulagin and Partners”, “National Treasure”, etc., performer of fights and stunts in the film “Servant of the Sovereigns”).

Leonid Lavrovsky, graduate of the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (GITIS). While still a student, he played several roles in performances of the theater "At the Nikitsky Gates", and is currently an artist of the theater "School of Modern Play". Student at the Literary Institute (drama department). Acting teacher at RATI (GITIS) and the Institute of Russian Theater. As a director, he collaborates with several entrepreneurial projects. He took part in the filming of the films “Moscow Saga”, “Children of the Arbat”, “Star of the Empire”, etc.

Sofia Ivanova, graduate of Russian State University physical culture and sports, specializing in “Combat Sports”. Master of Sports in fencing. Four-time Russian fencing champion.

Artem Deev, 5th year student at the Russian State University of Physical Culture and Sports, majoring in “Combat Sports”. Master of Sports in fencing. Prize-winner of the Moscow and Russian fencing championships. As a stuntman he took part in the filming of the film “The Treasures of Mazarin” (sequel to “The Three Musketeers”).

Team coaches: master of sports in fencing - Elena Tikhomirova And Elena Yakovleva.

Artistic director Lada Mosharova.

Choreographer Mikhail Lavrovsky. People's Artist of the USSR, Lenin Prize Laureate, International competition ballet dancers, Prize named after. Vaslav Nijinsky, Paris Academy of Dance, Moscow Prize in the field of culture and art.

Maria VYAZOVA, champion of Russia 2008, silver medalist of the World Art Fencing Championship in San Marino 2008.

Do you think that musketeers now live only in books, and pirates only fight with sabers in Pirates of the Caribbean? I assure you, the romance of the cloak and sword is now inherent not only to naive dreamers. Perhaps as a child you played Zorro, the noble masked avenger? Or did you dream of defeating a dozen enemies alone? Or maybe you wanted to show off in front of a beautiful lady, casually make jokes about your opponents, and win a duel? If you answered “yes” to at least one question, welcome to the world of art fencing.

"Duel in Venice." Photo by Georgy Shchukin.

"Tournament of Knights". Photo by Alexander Egorov.

Sketch "Saving the Princess". Photo by Alexander Arifulin.

"The Toreador's Dream" Photo by Alexander Egorov.

Partner A performs the action “step forward swing for a blow to the head.” Partner B responds with the action “counterattack with downward evasion, left leg ahead."

"One against two." Photo by Alexander Egorov.

An example of the beginning of the sketch “Duel”.

Good swordsman Only a bullet can stop it.
Charles Lecourt

Story

The appearance in the 16th century of light long-bladed weapons that could always be carried with oneself aroused a strong temptation to use them on any occasion. The dueling epidemic claimed more lives than civil wars. The art of wielding weapons has become not only a guarantee of survival, but also a way of life. The sword - patroness, intercessor, judge and seductress - resolved any conflicts.

The fencing duel always aroused keen interest among the spectators, completely absorbing their attention, which pickpockets often took advantage of. This is how Théophile Gautier describes a similar case in his novel “Captain Fracasse”:

“There was a noise at the other end of the bridge and the crowd rushed there. It turned out that the Brethren fought with rapiers there...

They shouted: “Hit, hit!” - and furiously attacked each other. They fought two against two and seemed to burn with indomitable hatred for each other, pushing aside the swords of the seconds who were trying to separate them.

In fact, this quarrel was intended to cause a crowd of people, so that it would be easier for pickpockets to operate in the crowd. And indeed, more than one curious person intervened in the commotion with a tightly stuffed wallet, and got out of the crush, having, without knowing it, spent all his money.

And the brothers, who did not even think of quarreling, but, on the contrary, sang among themselves, hastened to reconcile, shook each other’s hands with an emphatically noble gesture and announced that their honor was satisfied. This, however, did not require great effort“Their honor has never been sensitive.”

As the years passed, fencing gradually lost its status as a vital skill. However, it has survived to this day as a sport. True, it has noticeably lost its entertainment value, having acquired bulky masks and a full set of electronic equipment. The art of giving and not receiving injections has almost lost its charm, having turned into an academic sport and obscure to the uninitiated.

Now all over the world there is a decline in interest in the sport of fencing. Its convention is becoming more and more complicated, and the rules are becoming more complicated. The casual viewer simply does not understand the meaning and logic of the fights. Spectacular sword fighting has faded into the background, having the opportunity to excite hearts only in adventure films.

But the love for a beautiful spectacle and romance gave rise to a new type of fencing: not a tough conventional martial arts, but staged and spectacular. The new kind sports - artistic fencing allows you to demonstrate in all its diversity the technique of using different bladed weapons. These sword performances are interesting to many, but especially to children and teenagers. After all, knightly and musketeer adventures, thank God, still excite youthful souls.

In 2008, art fencing in Russia officially became a new discipline of sports fencing. In Europe, they have been held for more than 15 years international tournaments. Since last open championship From Germany, Russian athletes returned with six gold medals in eight categories.

Rules

- Why do you need a cord at the back?
- So that the coach can pull you away at the right moment...
Old fencing joke

The new fencing discipline is a theater of sports rules. Any art fencing tournament takes place in the form of a series of story-based costume fights. Each performance is a performance with its own plot. A fencing fight is learned and rehearsed, like lines in a theater play. In art fencing, it is not opponents who meet face to face, but partners.

The fundamental difference between art fencing and sports combat is the prohibition of improvisation for participants in fights. The heroes of a staged fight do not have the goal of defeating the enemy, as happens in a sports fight.

On stage, all weapon movements and movements of fighters are learned as gymnastic or dance combinations. Each participant knows the future maneuvers of their partner. All combat tactics and tricks to depict them are thought out by the coach and athletes, then embodied in pre-selected actions, and honed during training through repeated repetitions.

Here is an example of the beginning of the “Duel” sketch.

However, how can one determine the winner when the athletes do not have the goal of injecting their opponent?

As in other complex coordination sports, in art fencing the athletes entering the competition field are faced with the task of gaining the maximum possible number of points.

Athletes present to the referees a program rich in complex technical elements. At the end of the demonstration, the judges give scores. Those with the maximum number of points win.

An ideal performance would be one in which high level fencing is combined with artistry. In addition, a fencing match on stage requires an interesting plot, costumes, light, sound, props and other “moments” that fill the performance and turn it into a complete performance.

But sport is sport, and any performance submitted to an art fencing tournament must meet a number of time requirements and the presence of mandatory elements. All of them are fixed in the competition rules. The judges evaluate two aspects: technical and artistic.

The artistic aspect is clear to all viewers without exception, however, in order to correctly evaluate it, there are special criteria.

“Artistry” refers to the ability of a particular actor-athlete to embody the chosen image.

“Expressiveness” characterizes the construction of a fight composition taking into account musical accents, beauty and freedom of body movement.

The “compositional structure” criterion evaluates the presence of the basics of directing in stage combat. It is advisable that the speakers do not go deep into the stage, do not overlap each other, and try not to work with their backs to the audience. The action should develop dynamically, continuously, without “failures” and unreasonable pauses.

Additional incentive points are awarded for the beauty and originality of plots and costumes, props and scenery. In a word, the fight shown by the athletes should be beautiful and exciting.

The technical aspect is important not just because art fencing is a sport and for some reason it is “necessary”. Imagine that the actor who came on stage to portray a bully does not know how to fence at all. The viewer will instantly notice the fake movements. A frankly unreal fight will not evoke empathy, and no amount of acting will save the athletes. After all, everything is simple for the audience. Either they are bored looking at the awkward movements of strange weapons, or they are constantly watching a deadly duel, worrying about the heroes.

To assess the level of weapon mastery, the technical jury judges have special fencing criteria.

Eat basic technique, which determines the ability of each art fencer to clearly and correctly execute an attack and take defense.

The level of skill indicates the variety of combat actions performed.

The coherence of the work reflects the skill of the athletes in their “counteraction” with weapons, as well as the overall polish of the performance.

You can see how representatives of different schools of art fencing work and form your own opinion about technique and artistry during All-Russian tournaments or festivals that take place on average once every three months.

In order to “root for our people,” feel free to choose a studio whose fencers you want to believe. Teams performing something like academic ballet on stage or crawling like snails are completely different. The pinnacle of excellence is defined in the same way as it was five hundred years ago. The viewer should be breathtaking from the reality and tangible danger of the ongoing duel.

Fencing is mystic for noble people.
Arturo Perez-Reverte

In art fencing, athletes have the opportunity to realize themselves in various disciplines.

The most common category is “Duet”. A one-on-one duel is the most common form of fencing combat both in sports and on the theater stage. There has always been a duel the best way clear up any misunderstandings.

The “Solo” category is a combination of fencing techniques: “shadow boxing” performed by one person. Coaches find unusual and paradoxical ideas to make this category a real performance. This is a kind of “school”. Note that similar categories exist in many types of martial arts, for example, “Kata” in karate tournaments.

In the “Group Exercise” category, athletes must simultaneously and consistently perform combinations of fencing techniques. Without a single contact of blades, the speakers need to convey the atmosphere of the battle and the intention of the heroes to act together.

The meaning and benefits of training

Fencing... is the only type of exercise where the spirit is exercised.
Michel Montaigne

Although art fencing is not a martial arts in the literal sense of the word, you should not think that this fencing discipline was invented for cute girls who love fitness and sparkles on clothes. Remember: not a single modern martial art is complete without demonstration performances. In art fencing, demonstration is at the forefront. However, this sport is by no means easier than others.

Before the newcomer presents to the audience for the first time a duel performed according to all the rules martial art, many months of training await him. After all, in order to withstand the frantic pace of five minutes of fencing combat, even an experienced fighter needs to have good physical training.

In addition to actually wielding a weapon, a fencer must learn to control the body and psyche, and in addition, be able to interact with several opponents. By solving the conditional problem of staged combat, a person is able to develop the skill of self-control in a stressful situation.

If we assume that a beginner magically combines diligence, will and methodfulness, and learns to fencing as if his life depended on it... In this case, a few months will be enough. You can improve indefinitely - there is no upper age limit for serious art fencing. Nowadays athletes over 40 years old are successfully performing at Russian championships.

You may ask: “But still, what do you need swords for, gentlemen? After all, Shakespeare's plays are no longer new, and edged weapons are no longer an argument in disputes. And why, exactly, is this incomprehensible “art” needed if there is normal fencing?”

Art fencers take to the stage to present the audience with a believable and at the same time spectacular fight.

For what? Simply because they know: perhaps someday, having given the audience a fencing salute with a smile, the last of them will go backstage. There will be no truly noble people left in the world, the beauty of the great art of fencing will be forgotten. Then our world will become a damn boring place.

Materials about the rules of competitions and the current state of artistic fencing in Europe were kindly provided by Victoria Likhtarenko, teacher at the Espada art fencing studio, founder of art fencing as a sports discipline in Russia, permanent chief judge All-Russian competitions, a “trendsetter” in the staging of fencing matches in Russia.

Details for the curious

TECHNIQUES AND WEAPONS

Step back starts from behind standing foot, which is rearranged by the length of the foot, and the one in front restores the distance between them in a combat stance.

1st defense. Designed to repel blows to the left side and thigh. The forearm of the armed hand is parallel to the floor and directed slightly inward, and the tip of the blade is forward and downward, slightly out of the inner sector. The palm of the armed hand is facing outward, and the blade and bow of the guard are facing upward and toward the inner sector.

3rd defense. Designed to repel blows on the right side. At the time of performing the defense, the forearm of the armed hand and the blade are slightly moved beyond the outer sector from the vertical projection of the body. The forearm is parallel to the floor, and the tip of the blade is directed upward and forward. The palm of the armed hand is facing down, and the bow of the guard is directed outward and slightly forward.

4th defense. Performed with the aim of repelling an enemy’s thrust into the upper internal sector. The weapon moves to the vertical projection of the torso with inside. When moving with a sword, the forearm of the armed hand turns slightly in elbow joint. The movement ends with a clear positioning of the weapon and hand after reflecting the enemy’s blade.

Batman is performed by vigorously pushing the middle or weak part of the attacker’s blade into the weak or middle part of the defender’s blade in order to briefly move the tip beyond the projection of one’s own body in order to try to deliver a thrust into the opening sector.

(Adapted from the book by D. Tyshler and A. Movshovich “The Art of Stage Fencing”).

In artistic fencing, ordinary sports swords, rapiers or sabers are used. All of them are necessarily equipped with protective tips.

A sports sword is a weapon with a triangular cross-section blade, with a hilt that protects the hand. The length of the blade is from 90 to 110 cm, the weight of the sword is from 500 to 770 g. Along the blade the sword has fullers - grooves for rigidity.

A sports saber, or espadron, is a piercing and chopping weapon, has a blade of trapezoidal variable cross-section, proportionally decreasing towards the top. Saber blades may have longitudinal grooves on the side and upper wide sides. Length - no more than 105 cm, weight - up to 500 g.

A sports rapier is a piercing weapon with a rectangular blade. The rapier weighs up to 500 g and reaches 110 cm in length with a handle.

Artistic fencing is-

• Physical education
• Fencing
• Combat acrobatics
• Stage combat without weapons
• Acting Basics
• Historical and cultural heritage
• Hobby
• A breathtaking theatrical costume show!

Feel like a brave musketeer, a desperate pirate or a cold-blooded aristocrat.

• Try on the role of your favorite characters from books and films - nobles and musketeers, midshipmen and pirates, heroes and adventurers.
• Feel the excitement of the fight, the drive of the fight.
• Get involved in national and world history
• Learn to control your body.
• Learn theatrical techniques and tricks of stage combat and combat acrobatics.
• Find like-minded people.

Get ready for battle, just like in the good movies!

• in cultural, creative, intellectual and spiritual development,
• We realize creative potential,
• we create conditions for the socialization of youth,
• We develop forms of leisure in accordance with modern world cultural development

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