[Greg Mele]

As the Programming Coordinator for WMAW 2011, I am pleased to announce that….

…We are Live!

(Actually, I didn’t get a chance to announce it – it seems that Facebook and a few folks clicking the “register” button on the WMAW website did that for me!)

Yes, this means that you should go to www.wmaw.us and register NOW for the premiere North American event for students and instructors of the western tradition. A small, informal gathering of fellow students has grown to consistently draw instructors and students from three continents.

This tenth Workshop, which will run from September 15 - 18, 2011, again returns to the picturesque DeKoven Foundation, located in Racine, Wisconsin (approx. one hour north of Chicago, and forty minutes south of Milwaukee). (www.dekoven.org) Sitting on the shores of Lake Michigan, DeKoven was the first four-year college built west of the Appalachians, and is now an Anglican retreat center. In addition to lending its natural and architectural beauty to the classroom settings, the retreat center will also act as lodging for up to sixty-five of our guests, and will lend its great hall for an on-site dinner Saturday night. We believe this unique venue helps to make all present feel far more like family and honored guests than mere “attendees”.

We have tried to make every WMAW a bit different than the ones before, with new faces added to old favorites and special events. Here are a few of the things new this year:

• An extended Thursday – now four full days of training!
  
• A new track on Thursday, focused entirely on body mechanics.
  
• Our largest collection of classes, lectures and demonstrations – over 60 different options from which to choose.
  
• The largest-ever English track of classes and lectures on Iberian martial arts!
  
• A tribute to 19th c Antagonistics including:
  [INDENT]o a full track of classes in Bartitsu, La Canne, Baton and Classical Dueling Sword and Saber
  o a very special demonstration at Saturday’s dinner – 1911: An Assault of Arms, arranged by Tony Wolf and Neal Stephenson
  o Sentiments of the Sword: a late night roundtable on the Noble Art – with Brandy![/INDENT]
  
• A first-ever series of classes on the truly *classical* arts – as in Classical Rome!
  [INDENT]o A lecture on the University of Regensburg’s Gladiator Project – reconstructing a lost martial art from non-technical sources.
  o Ancient Roman nutrition and exercise
  o Ars Gladiatoria – a three-hour practicum on Gladiatorial Combat, featuring sword, shield and trident.[/INDENT]
  
• A demonstration of Viking-era Sword and Shield combat by Roland Warzecha
  
• Expanded fencing times and coached wrestling by torchlight!
  
• An armoured feat-of-arms.
  

We are also pleased to welcome some new faces to the WMAW line-up, including:

• Devon Boorman, Academie Duello
  
• Bob Charrette, Forteza Historical Swordwork Guild
  
• Christian Eckert
  
• Mark Hillyard, Academy Gloriana
  
• Dr. Ken Mondschein, Higgins Armoury Museum
  
• Jake Norwood, Maryland Kunst des Fechtens
  
• Treyson Ptak, Chicago Swordplay Guild
  
• Jason Smith, Les Maitres des Armes
  

As well as lectures by new guests, Charles Blair, Tim Rivera and Adam Velez.

This is the largest, most diverse WMAW we have ever held; we hope that it will be the most FUN. Of course, that is predicated upon you, our guests! But you need to register *fast*. The event only has room for 160 guests; last time we were half full and had sold out on-site housing in one day! Since registration got leaked on Facebook, I can all but guarantee that we will be out of bed today, so if this is priority, do not delay!

Register now! www.wmaw.us

We look forward to crossing swords and clasping hands with all of you this September.

Best wishes,

Gregory Mele
WMAW 2011 Programming Chair

[Michael B.]

I weep.

I had the money saved for this year after years of my friends harassing me about not attending. Then I proposed to my girlfriend, and we set the wedding date....yep...September 17th...

Bless the woman I'm marrying, who said "I'm so sorry, if only we had though...if we hadn't sent the "save the dates" I would change the date for you"

Needless to say, we will be spending our anniversary attending the next one.

Have fun everyone.

[Greg Mele]

Holy cow! We are just about 75% full and registration has been open for only a few days! All hyperbole aside, if you want to attend WMAW 2011 and have your pick of classes DO NOT DELAY.

[Greg Mele]

I have never had to post this so quickly, but here we are a week into registration and I have to say that "we regret to announce that this year's Western Martial Arts Workshop has filled up, and we have closed registration."

In order to ensure the best experience and instruction we can provide, we cap our attendance at a level that can be accomodated by the venue, our staff, and the class schedule. This year the response has been phenomenal, and the cap was reached after six days.

Cancellations invariably occur during the summer prior to the event, however. If you would like to be place on a waiting list for the event, please let our registrar know know at this address: wmawregistrar@comcast.net

Greg Mele
Chicago Swordplay Guild