The ninth confirmed instructor for the 2017 Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium is Mark Mikita! Mark has been practicing martial arts for almost 50 years and teaching professionally for almost 40. He founded the Mikita School of Martial Art located in Los Angeles, California, where he teaches a hybrid of armed and unarmed martial arts, with […]
We are happy to announce that the final intensive instructor of the 2017 Vancouver Swordplay Symposium will be none other than Paul Wagner! Paul hails all the way from Australia, where he teaches at the Stoccata School of Defence. Paul is one of the leading authorities on historical British martial arts as well as an […]
Among this year’s Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium intensive instructors will be Devon Boorman, co-founder and director of Academie Duello Centre for Swordplay, one of the largest schools for historical European swordsmanship in the world. Devon is best known for his instruction in various forms of Italian swordplay, from 15th century longsword arts to the Bolognese […]
Marco Quarta will be joining us as an instructor for the 2017 Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium! Marco taught a variety of standalone workshops at VISS 2013 and 2015, and this time he’ll be teaching an intensive 3-day workshop alongside Tom Leoni, Matthew Howden, Christian Tobler, Ilkka Hartikainen, Jessica Finley, and more! Marco is an instructor […]
We are happy to announce that Christian Tobler, renowned instructor and researcher of historical German martial arts, will be teaching an intensive workshop at VISS 2017! Christian has been an instructor at VISS 2011, 2013, and 2015, which makes him one of a small handful of instructors who have taught at every VISS. Christian joins […]
We are proud to announce that Jessica Finley will be joining us as an instructor at the 2017 Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium! Jessica Finley is a veteran of VISS 2013, when she led a three-day intensive on Liechtenauer’s longsword, messer, and unarmed grappling. She is the author of Medieval Wrestling: Modern Practice of a 15th-Century […]
Ilkka Hartikainen has been confirmed as an instructor for the 2017 Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium! Ilkka will be leading an intensive 3-day workshop on Bolognese swordsmanship. Ilkka hails from Helsinki, Finland, where he teaches at the Espoo Association for Historical Fencing. You may know Ilkka from his Bolognese swordsmanship workshops around the world, his website […]
This year’s lectures are looking good, with great topics offered by martial arts instructors and academics alike. We’re proud to host academic lectures by Dr. Noelle Phillips, Dr. Robert Rouse, and Daniel Helbert of the University of British Columbia. In addition, we’ll have lectures by martial arts instructors including Bob Charrette, Puck Curtis, David R. […]
We are happy to announce that a workshop schedule is now available on our workshop page! There are currently three levels of hands-on workshops available: Multi-day intensive workshop series are comprised of three 3-hour sessions for a total of nine hours with the same instructor(s). We are currently offering four intensive tracks, each focusing on […]
The list of VISS 2015 instructors keeps growing, and the latest addition is Steaphen Fick! Steaphen is the founder of Davenriche European Martial Artes in Santa Clara, California, where he teaches a wide variety of martial arts, both modern and historical. Steaphen is also an authority on the works of Joseph Swetnam and the author […]
Marco Quarta will be joining our roster of returning instructors for VISS 2015! Marco is a talented grappler, stickfighter, and researcher of Italian martial traditions. Marco has a long history with various disciplines, including modern fencing as well as grappling arts of various traditions, which he showed at VISS 2013 in some impressive matches with […]
We have yet another instructor to announce for VISS 2015! Randy Packer is joining the ranks of workshop instructors for this March. Randy is the founder and head instructor at Valkyrie Western Martial Arts Assembly, and he co-founded Academie Duello with Devon Boorman as well. Randy has a background in both Eastern and Western martial […]
The latest instructor to join us for VISS 2015 is Matthew Howden of Academia Duellatoria in Portland, OR! Matthew specializes in the rapier art of Gerard Thibault, a 17th century Dutch system which descended from the Spanish rapier tradition. Thibault’s system is rarely practiced, yet based on one of the most comprehensive historical swordsmanship texts […]