Earlier this month the local television show Virginia Time Travel contacted us at the Virginia Academy of Fencing to do an episode on the historical swordfighting techniques of medieval and Renaissance Europe. David Rowe and I went out to demonstrate for them.

It was a fun (if rushed) experience, where we showed up, did a bunch of techniques with different weapons, and did an interview. The official airing will not be until January, but they've just put up a lower quality version on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8q0vxMMmGw&am...ideo_title

They were so excited by the episode that they were talking about the possibility of inviting us back to do an armored combat episode. So be sure to "like" the YouTube listing so as to encourage them to do so. :)

Very good interview!

Good stuff! Good exposure too! Congratulations. :D

Very good interview, you speak clearly and without hesitation(s) or stumbles and you project a feeling of passion and enthusiasm which makes the interview not only informative but very entertaining as well. :D :cool:

I was a little surprised when you mentioned 1989/90 when you sort of started down this path after studying Olympic Fencing and Aikido but where looking for more realism in learning about fighting in the period of Knighthood, mostly I kept wondering how old is this guy ? He looks barely 25 years old. :lol:

I assume you started some of this in your early teens but not at 3 years old. :eek:

The demos where also very good but maybe being dressed in black in front of a black background may in some cases make things harder to see, but on the other hand one does see the swords or staffs very well with less distraction(s).

I assume also that this is youtube video at a lesser quality that probably exaggerated the contrast levels in such a way to make your training uniforms equal in tone to the background and that in a high quality version one would see more differences in the lighting levels. ( My 25 years of Industrial T.V. work that included lighting and set design sort of is showing here. ;) ).

But these are small things as the overall quality of the content is very high and congratulations on a great interview, if you had any nerves or stage fright it was not apparent at all. :p :lol: :cool:

Well done Bil and congratulations. It's never easy doing 'of the cuff' interviews without pauses so hats off to you.

best wishes
Dave

Hey Bill,

Very cool!

(and nice suit :))

Cheers,

J

Very good indeed, your first reply was just one long story without a single pause and very concise.
You have to have a very clear and ordered mind to tell that right away without preparation.
One thing is that the interview space seems a little small, the chairs are a little low.
You guys don't sit very elegant :P

Bill,

Very cool. And they did a good job of asking thoughtful questions, not just common superficial ones. Sort of a nice pat on the back for all your hard work Bill!

Nice work.

Maybe you could explain how Aikido is unarmed but with armed elements for some one who has no idea how that works? I thought I understood but maybe I do not.

RPM

Nicely done!

I have to agree with Jean, you have a gift for speaking. I think it was a vary good interview, and you presented a fantastic synopsis of what we are all interested in.

Thanks everyone for the compliments! Mostly I'm just glad to have more exposure for these arts in a different venue.

Randall Moffett wrote:

Maybe you could explain how Aikido is unarmed but with armed elements for some one who has no idea how that works? I thought I understood but maybe I do not.

Aikido is predominantly an empty hand art, but you also learn the knife, the sword and the short staff (jo). Just like in the western traditions, these weapons overlap in techniques with the unarmed methods, so that you are learning one wholistic art as opposed to a brand new art for every single weapon.

Thanks Bill, makes sense. And sounds rather awesome.

I hope this video really encourages people to give WMA a second thought. It is interesting when I speak to people about it most assume it is some how clumsy, brutish or underdeveloped but a few looks at some material and many are surprised by the amount of detail shown in medieval MS. Working with students who often their only exposure to this is TV I think get a kick on this. I am actually thinking of adding in a lecture on Fightbooks in my Medieval Warfare section along with some of the tactical manuals of the time to show from large scale to individual how detailed these men (and women) were.

RPM

Great interview, Bill. As you said, exposure of this is wonderful for the WMA community. You hit on some wonderful points. I'm glad to see that you got the full 30 minutes of the show.