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 […]
The 2017 T-shirt design contest results are in! The judges chose this design by Marika Purisima of Vancouver! Marika has won a full three day pass to VISS 2017 and we all get the pleasure of wearing T-shirts with her awesome design on it. Marika’s design borrows historical illustrations to evoke this year’s asymmetrical “This […]
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 […]
One of the ways that we help keep VISS affordable and build the community is by doing our best to host out-of-town attendees. If you’re based in Vancouver and you are able to host one or more VISS attendees, please contact our registrar. Alternately, if you plan on attending VISS you either need a place […]
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 […]
We’re pleased to announce that once again the Victorian Hotel is once again sponsoring VISS. If you’re joining us from out of town, consider staying with them, as they help support us! Originally built in 1898 as one of the earliest guest houses in the city, The Victorian is a designated heritage site that features […]
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 […]
Early registration is officially open for the 2017 Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium! Register now and you will receive a 20% early registration discount until our full schedule is announced in the coming months. To register, head on over to our registration page. In addition to the early registration discount, our American registrants currently enjoy an […]
Update: we’ve extended the deadline! VISS 2017 planning is well underway, but one thing we still need is a fantastic design for this year’s T-shirts. We are now accepting entries to the VISS 2017 T-Shirt design contest. Entries will be accepted from now until midnight on Friday, September 30 Friday, October 14. The winner will […]
Greetings swordplay enthusiasts! The fourth Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium is coming up in on February 17-19, 2017 and preparations are now well underway. We’ve started booking great instructors, and we want to let you in on some details, namely this year’s “This vs. That” theme. VISS has always featured four in-depth intensive study tracks. At […]
The Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium is a couple of weeks behind us now and plans have already begun for the 2017 event! We have already set the date for February 17-19, 2017. Please mark your calendars! We are now looking for new board members to help plan and execute VISS 2017. Though the event is […]