Seminars Offered - Steven Reich

I offer both one-day and two-day weekend seminars. I suggest that organizers or group leaders call or email me so that I can get a good picture of what your group is looking for in terms of instruction. For instance, while some groups are more interested in the technical and historical aspects of our styles, others want to focus on drills and tactics that will help their bouting performance. Also, it always helps to know the current level of knowledge and experience of your group, so that we can all make the most of our time together.

Although I can teach seminars in Italian Rapier and Baroque Sword, my focus is on the system of Bolognese Swordsmanship as described in the works of Antonio Manciolino (1531), Achille Marozzo (1536), The Anonymous Bolognese (c. 1550), and Giovanni dall'Agocchie (1572).

Bolognese, Sword-Alone. This is a two-day seminar where I start with all of the essential footwork, guards, and strikes, including a careful attention to the mechanics of each action; then I go over the standard defenses, and finally the provocations. My source material for this comes from all of the Bolognese material, but is most heavily weighted to the 500+ actions for sword-alone described in The Anonymous Bolognese.

Bolognese, Sword and Buckler. This is a two-day seminar very similar to that offered for sword-alone, except that the focus is on the techniques and actions suitable with a buckler or targa in the off-hand. My source material for this comes from the treatises of Manciolino, Marozzo, and The Anonymous Bolognese.

Bolognese, Other. In addition to the "standard" seminars described above, I can teach specialized seminars on a particular weapon or weapons in the Bolognese System, including Polearms, the Spadone, Sword and Rotella, etc.

Capoferro I. This is a two-day introduction to the style of Capoferro, in which I will teach the fundamentals the master’s single-sword system. I start the mechanical fundamentals and terminology, adding the theory as needed to understand what we cover. Everything is presented in a practical and hands-on way within a logical system so that students come away with more than just a few tricks. The material is drawn from Capoferro's manual with only some external material to explain those areas he omits or leaves unclear.

Baroque Roman Rapier seminar (two days). I focus on the teachings of Master Francesco Marcelli, who came from a well-established family of fencing masters and published a manual in 1686. Although not currently well-known, the late 17th century systems present elegant and effective styles of swordsmanship that allow their students use their techniques in a relatively short time. In Marcelli and his peers, we see the beginnings of the Italian Classical style, but presented with a weapon that is clearly a "rapier" in the usual sense. As Marcelli's manual is set in a very logical fashion, I will follow his structure fairly closely, starting with fundamentals such as the guards, parries and attacks. Then we will cover the actions of first intention, the actions of second-intention, and the voids and actions in tempo. This is a practical, economical and fun style that makes an excellent introduction to learning the rapier and will offer a strong foundation for the earlier masters.