Author: Joe Echtenkamp

  • 2023 – Fantasy, Folklore, Swords, and Fun

    2023 – Fantasy, Folklore, Swords, and Fun

    Gone are the days where swords are used for combat, but that doesn’t mean that the sword has outlived it’s welcome. Constellations has again welcomed our guild with open arms this weekend. We spent time introducing people to the tools of our trade, including the longsword, dagger, throws, and safety gear. On Saturday, during our…

  • 2023 – Fantasy, Folklore, and Fighting [Practice]

    2023 – Fantasy, Folklore, and Fighting [Practice]

    It’s that Time Again! Time for the guild to hone its martial art for public display. We will be hosting a table at the local fantasy convention ConStellation, along with 2 event showing of our art. Saturday, April 22nd, at 3-4 pm, we will be doing our ever popular “Wheel of Mortality”, where we used…

  • 2023 – Under Duress, No More

    2023 – Under Duress, No More

    Today we’re going to learn a lot of things, but first and foremost; we must learn to fall. Joseph Loder [ paraphrased] One may get worried if the first thing in a class about defense is to fall, but not our crew. Joe explained that to do some of the later offensive techniques, we must…

  • 2023 – Under Duress: A survey of medieval close combat techniques in the Italian tradition.

    2023 – Under Duress: A survey of medieval close combat techniques in the Italian tradition.

    This course is designed to be an accessible, full day course covering a simplified body of techniques from Fiore dei Liberi’s Flor Di Bataglia. Starting from grappling and then bridging to use of the dagger and longsword by themselves, then concluding with transitioning from one weapon to the next in giocco stretto or ‘close play’.…

  • 2022 – Arms, Abrazare, and old Acquaintances

    2022 – Arms, Abrazare, and old Acquaintances

    Learning is not just for the students in our guild; our instructors recently took the opportunity to visit our parent school, Fortezza Fitness, home of the Chicago Swordplay Guild. They went to learn ( and review ) the basics for Abrazare. Abrazare is a body of techniques for throwing, falling, and tumbling that Fiore’s taught…

  • 2022 – Streets Alive Festival

    2022 – Streets Alive Festival

    Over the wind, and the music, You can hear the boisterous laughter of Marty, as he and Brad spar in the afternoon sun. Today we hosted a stand at “Streets Alive”, a local community street festival that encourages a healthy lifestyle. The event took over a large 24 block area, of which we were gratefully…

  • 2022 – Lincoln’s Party at the Park

    2022 – Lincoln’s Party at the Park

    Hot, Fun, and Exhausting; what more could you want from a Demo? All-in-all the Party in the Park demonstration went well. We had three opportunities to demonstrate Fiore’s art over the course of the 4-hour event. During which we showed the basics of Longsword, Dagger, and unarmed combat that we learn in the guild. It…