Not sure if I should post this here or not as it is off topic?

I am pleased to announce a Selohaar Fetchtschule Event: The 2nd Annual "Chivalric Weekend" this June 14th and 15th 2008, with Christian Tobler and Greg Mele. With Honored Guests: Lee Jones, Dan Maragini, Nicole Allen of Revival Clothing, Christian Darce of Purpleheart Armouries, and Allen Senefeldor and Jason Perfetto of Mercanary Tailor.

Instruction in both German and Italian Historical Fencing with primary focus on Sword and Buckler and Poleaxe.

For those that attended last year; you have a reserved slot.

All information, including photos from last year: http://www.freewebs.com/chivalricweekend/index.htm

If you have any question please feel free to contact me.

Cheers,

Todd Sullivan
New York Historical Fencing Association
www.newyorklongsword.com

We are pleased to announce that a course of instruction has been added to Chivalric Weekend. "Introduction to German Long Sword of the Liechtenauer Tradition" with yours truly and Jessica Finley of the Selohaar Fetchschule. This is an excellent course for those new to Historical Fencing and for advanced students as well.

If you have any questions feel free to contact Todd Sullivan.

Since we now have two courses going on at the same time, it would be very helpful if those of you planning on attenting would specify which course you are interested in taking.

The "Introduction to German Long Sword of the Liechtenauer Tradition" course is more suited to those starting out in WMA or those specifically interested in the longsword, whereas the courses offered by Christian and Greg are suited both to more advanced students seeking to expand the scope of their studies and those beginners interested in the weapons those courses cover.

I had a great time last year; great location, great instruction, great food, great people. (I just wanted to see how many times I could use the word great) My check is already in the mail for this year's event.

I'll be there; looking forward to another great time! :)

Still some slots available.

Vendors Added: RSW and Alliance Martial Arts.

If you require an item from any vendors attending please let the vendor or myself know and they will hopefully have it for you when you arrrive at the event.

Mercenery's Tailor is giving 10$ on any items ordered for manufacturing at the event.

Cheers,

Todd

The event was last weekend, and I'm missing it already. I've posted a very similar review of this on SFI, so forgive me if you've read that already. This was a fantastic event. First and foremost, I need to thank Todd Sullivan for all of his wonderful hospitality. Everytime you turned your head, Todd was hard at work making sure everything was running smoothly, whether helping with accomodations, digging a fire pit, driving people back and forth between the campsite and classes, and so on. I think Christian Tobler described Todd best when he said the man is a force of nature!

The classes were top notch. I did not get to see Michael Edelson and Jessica Finley teaching their German longsword classes, unfortunately, though I heard excellent things about them. Greg Mele and Christian Tobler did fantastic classes, and my favorite was probably the joint poleaxe class that they did, covering both Bolognese and Liechtenauer techniques together. I particularly enjoyed Greg's Iron Gate class, which I technically had already done at WMAW, but nonetheless allowed me to really get a better understanding of Fiore (and, more importantly to me, the similarities and subtle differences between Fiore and Liechtenauer). Greg is not just a top notch martial artist, but a top notch teacher as well.

The round table discussion on Saturday night was wonderful, and really solidified a number of thoughts I've had bouncing around my head about the importance of what and why we all do this. It also reinforced, to me, the need for strong ties in the community, which thankfully we have. There were a number of very poignant responses, particularly those by Jesse Kulla and Jessica Finley, and I find myself thinking back to a lot of the topic of what it means to practice Chivalric arts in the modern world.

The comraderie of afterhours socializing is always a high point of any good WMA event, and Chivalric Weekend was no slouch in this regard. Plenty of wonderful people, some old friends, and many more brand new ones. I found out about Mike Edelson's background in Rex Kwon Do, saw Brian Hook's inner leaping leopard, and realized what a bad idea it is to drink with Pete Kautz when incense sticks are around (Pete, that was crazy fun).

My thanks to everyone involved, not just organizers and teachers, but everyone who was there, because in the end it is the incredible people their who breath soul into these events, and it could definately be felt by everyone present.

It was great! No need to expand much on what Bill said, but I do want to add my thanks to Todd and Tracy for hosting. Also thanks to Christian and Greg for the great classes; well done! Finally a special thanks to Dr Lee Jones who again brought swords and insight to this event.

I'll keep my thanks more brief here than I did on SFI.

Thanks to all of you who came and made this a really magical event! Christian and I were both really impressed with how hard everyone worked, the base level of skill amongst attendees, and the openness to new ideas.

It was a pleasure seeing old friends and making new ones, especially Mike Edelson, the incomparable Jessica Finley, and my new Quebecois friends from Maitres des Armes. But the lion's share of lauds must go to Team Sullivan; Todd and Tracy are not just fine hosts, they are hospitality personified. I just hope that next time we get them a bit more staff, so that Tracy can get out of the house, and Todd down to a class or two.

Finally, I think the roundtable was a high-point of the weekend. Christian and I have done these before in other settings, but never at a WMA event, so we weren't sure how it would go over. I think the answer is rather well, and it was wonderful to hear what calls people to these arts and why they feel that they have value, real value.

Again, thanks to all for a really magical weekend. It's been a week and I'm still a-glow.

Greg