Five in attendance, including a special guest from far away. We did most of the basic workout, skimping a bit on the heavy Indian club phase because of time constraints, and then worked cutlass for over an hour, focusing on some of the basic blocks and parries up out of low guard. Emphasis was on relaxation and economy of motion, maintaining an upright posture, and adjusting footwork so as to remain square to the adversary. These moves flow directly into Silver’s grips and as such are squarely in Hutton’s “Defence against Uncivilised Enemies” curriculum.

We have been working with a wide range of different physical culture exercises, which is fine except for the fact that the transitions take up a lot of time and don’t leave much room in the practice for study of specific martial arts techniques. This evening for the first time we used the new round timer supplied by Mr. Beard to run through a timed and programmed series of exercises, beginning with la canne-style stick swinging and then moving through a series of single and paired body weight exercises to light Indian clubs and heavy Indian clubs. This provided a vigorous half-hour workout hitting most of the major muscle groups. In the future we will transition from that into punching and kicking drills, but this evening we were somewhat limited by a lack of equipment.

With five participants in attendance, we did have enough combined muscle power to move the base of our Wavemaster bag up the stairs, and so our freestanding heavy bag is finally online in one corner of the loft. After a medicine ball session we launched into an hour of cutlass/dusack training under the capable and patient tutelage of Mr. Barnett. Since we are still bringing some new swordfighters up to speed, this evening’s lesson concentrated on the basics of stance, movement, and distance.

The gada was tested and found to be in need of further work. Its handle is very thin and very hard and tough on collarbones.

During a break we admired a Christmas gift from Mr. Wolf:

This will be hung in a place of honor when the loft reaches a more finished and civilized state.

Four participants including one new member. So far there have been nine unique participants plus two others who have expressed apparently sincere interest over email but not yet showed up. We began with a brief review of bullwhip cracking basics for two members who were unable to attend last week’s seminar. Loud noises were made, and minor damage self-inflicted upon the hindquarters of a [duly waivered] neophyte. Conditioning and warmup followed the usual pattern (light clubs, heavy clubs, medicine ball). We elected to skip pugilism and savate practice in order to leave more time for cutlass.

In some light Indian club exercises, the club is rotated through a full 360 degrees. If the clubs are very light, these movements can be executed with the fingertips, using baton-twirling sorts of motions, but our favorite club gurus advocate maintaining a full hammer grip and articulating the wrist to rotate the club. It just so happens that this is exactly the same mechanic used in la canne when performing circular exercises with the stick. Accordingly, at a certain point in the evening we put down the light clubs and picked up the walking sticks and used them to perform the full repertoire of circular exercises–essentially employing them as extended Indian clubs:

• forward outside circle, vertical plane
• backward outside circle, vertical
• forward inside, vertical
• backward inside, vertical
• forward figure eight (alternating between outside and inside vertical circles)
• backward figure eight
• horizontal circles in one direction
• horizontal circles in the opposite direction
• …and the same using the other hand.

Medicine balls were thrown with the more than the usual level of puerile aggression, and after a break we sank our teeth into the cutlass curriculum under the direction of Mr. Barnett, using dusacks. Mr. Millbank did yeoman work in the role of Mr. Barnett’s foil and assistant. We covered defense by distance, defense by hanging guard, and then did a simple quasi-free-play exercise employing both. It was noted that the aforementioned cane/club exercises are fine preparation for executing the hanging guard.

In place of the regularly scheduled Tuesday evening BWAHAHAHA session, we co-hosted a seminar on bullwhip cracking featuring John Leonetti, Louie Foxx, Will Morgan of David Morgan, and Restita (Rusty) DeJesus of the Seattle Snapdragons. Attendees included several of our regular members plus a number of SANCA students and various guests. We were privileged to learn whip cracking lore and technique from such a remarkable brain trust of world-class whip geeks. The seminar began with some quick demos by John, Louie, David, and Rusty, followed by a historical overview of bullwhips and their development over the span of human history, covering regional differences in materials and styles. After a thorough safety briefing we donned safety glasses, broke up into small groups, and spread out across SANCA’s ample floor space to work on the basic Cattleman’s Crack using whips supplied by John, Louie, and the other seminar leaders. The space resounded with sonic booms as satisfied participants honed their technique and experimented with different styles of whips. This was the best-attended Holiday Whip Cracking Seminar yet and bodes well for future iterations. Watch this space for a link out to photos from John.

The promise of homemade eggnog did little to boost typically low holiday attendance; four members attended the session. Some La Canne basics were reviewed for a new member while others filtered in, and we then proceeded to the traditional sequence of light clubs, heavy clubs, medicine ball, and pad drill. Basic pugilism punches were reviewed with special emphasis on the rounding blow. In lieu of weapons practice we cut the session a bit short and withdrew to the office below where cream was whipped, eggnog prepared, and a series of seasonally appropriate toasts made.

Some interest was expressed in adding the gada to our arsenal of training devices. During the next week members will supposedly fan out looking for inexpensive heavy spherical objects, e.g. worn-out bowling balls, that can be used as heads for homemade gadas.