How to Fake a Fight: Stage Combat with the APC

Where have you been, Jill? Well...umm...Sandwich, Kent, in a boarding school, for a week, getting an APC Basic qualification in Rapier and Dagger, Single Sword and Unarmed stage combat.
No, seriously, this is What I Did On My Holidays by Jill, Aged 32.
I had the best time, 10/10, would recommend. As long as you don't mind sweating continuously for six days and gaining a large collection of weird bruises.
theapc.org.uk
www.jillbearup.com

[@ikarikid]

I’m interested. What does BEDPAN stand for?

[@JillBearup]

B - Balance E - Eye contact D - Distance (as in, are you far enough away that you can move properly and not hit them) P - Preparation (what you do to let your partner know you're about to hit them, and what that's going to be) A - Action (doing the thing) N - Nice reaction (as in, I think we have the letters for BEDPA, let's make the last one begin with N regardless. But selling the fact that you've just been hit, basically)

[@xingcat]

Stage combat is SO EMOTIONALLY INTENSE! People forget, I think, that whenever we're touching other people or interacting with them physically, there's a real emotional situation happening. Even a stage slap requires a huge level of trust on the part of both people that you'll both be where you should be, that you'll stay safe, and that you'll both make it work together. I am a bit envious of your week of training! I've only learned show-by-show, so I know absolutely nothing about enough to do exactly one scene in a few plays. :)

[@Inlelendri]

...why is your enthusiasm so disarmingly catchy? Maybe it's the calm earnestness of it, I dunno. But it's always a treat to come to a new upload from you - and though I'd suck at the workshop because balance, what balance? I'd love to try it based on this story. Thank you again :)

[@Valdagast]

Next step is to sing while fighting. You can do it. I believe in you. :o) My favorite badass boast from Shakespeare is "O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace." And that's from a comedy. Oh, and what does BEDPAN stand for?

[@JillBearup]

I adore Beatrice, I really do.

[@tecpaocelotl]

That's good that you tried something new that was out of your comfort zone.

[@Hasteaguy]

Quite simple: LARP. Choose your intensity level and play on. I'm glad you had fun and you looked good out there.

[@Itsolaskancke]

Great to hear that you had a good experience with stage combat! I've been doing it for nearly ten years now, and it's my favorite :D

[@Marcu3s]

Each stage combat class' part should be full recreation of the sword fight from Princess Bride.

[@raraavis7782]

Oh boy, saying your lines while fencing? My brain would have scrambled up and then permanently set that way due to the heat 😎 And well, getting emotional and even crying during physically and emotionally draining training sessions? Been there, done that. I think pretty much every (female) athlete has. The boys usually just kick things. It’s embarrassing while it happens, but it often makes you realise important things about yourself...what your ‚triggers‘ and psychological weak points are...how to deal with stress and exhaustion and things not working out the way they are supposed to...and all on a ‚playing field‘, where the consequences aren’t as dire as in ‚real life‘. I highly recommend not trying to avoid situations like these...they can teach you a lot at very little cost 🙂

[@RubensBudgetCreations]

What should you do till the next course? Simple, find a HEMA club nearby and learn much more. There are a lot of HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) schools out there, everything from saber or rapier to sword and buckler or longsword and everything in between. It will not only teach you to hit people but will also give you the knowledge you need to make your stage fighting confincing. I've done a lot of swordfighting for movies, believe me I know.

[@kidthorazine]

Though it should be noted that HEMA and stage combat are very different things. Especially if you get into longsword or arming swords, since the way that's don'e on stage is usually based on saber techniques it can really throw you off and cause problems with the choreographer. Not to disparage HEMA though, HEMA is (usually) great and worth doing.

[@MadameTamma]

I loved HEMA when I was in school. I regret only finding the club a semester before I graduated. I learned a little bit of long sword and scimitar. The students who ran it also ran the renaissance club and used it to put on plays.

[@RubensBudgetCreations]

Here in the Netherlands we have the groups vanguard and bataille who started as the group:" order der noorderwind" and split up a few years ago. Noorderwind started as a reaction on the "bad" swordfighting in movies bij a group of dutch students. We used HEMA in show productions to portray more realistic swordmanship in a choreogaphy. Nowadays, after the split up bataille does stage shows and vanguard does stuntwork for movies, all using historical technics based on historical manuscips.

[@Khuratokh]

That and smoked sausages.

[@RubensBudgetCreations]

Khuratokh , the best in the world. Differend kind of HEMA though ;)

[@swingloveEKL]

tbh, Taming of the Shrew would be immeasurably improved if Kate could just knee Petruchio in the groin every time he says something gross

[@TheeGoatPig]

I made the mistake of learning how to fence and fight without learning how to act along with it.

[@lillymacallistor7390]

I am so happy you had such a great experience! And also so jealous =D I used to do stage fencing for quite a while when I was still living with my parents (9 years ago - good god!) but there is no HEMA club or stage fencing or anything similar near my university so I haven‘t really done it in ages. I was never brilliant at it but the one thing I had down pretty much immediately was _staring people in the eyes_. And apparently I was really good at the aggressive smirk because whenever my partner would actually remember to look up from their sword, they would get super intimidated. I LOVED it! But yeah, I think there are a lot of HEMA groups all over the UK (and dedicated groups for women in HEMA and other things on facebook!), it‘s not as much of a wasteland as my part of Germany seems to be... I hope you‘ll find a club, if you are interested in continuing and anyway, CONGRATS on passing your exams! You look pretty badass with a sword!

[@MadameTamma]

This year I've loaded myself up with afterwork classes (Probably too many. there are times when I'm overwhelmed with it all, I think I'll drop a few when I move next year.) Monday: Hapkido weapons class Tuesday/Thursday: regular Hapkido Wednesday: Violin Friday: Singing and there are days when I feel so disappointed and frustrated with myself like when I can't get a kick down that I've tried for hours to accomplish or practicing a song during my lunch break everyday only to play it for my teacher and him to stop me every few notes to tell me it's wrong. I'm no where close to where I want to be but at the same time it's nice recognizing that I've come so far. (The test for my fifth belt is next month, yay!) The point I'm trying to make is that classes are great! Self-betterment is fantastic! And even when there are points where I'm exhausted and the goal of where I want to be is so far off that's it's difficult to imagine, I feel proud of myself. And I'm proud of you for hearing what you've accomplished. Good for you.

[@AmaranthOriginal]

I still don't get why you'd want to fight a stage. *badum bum* I think most Shakespeare could use some more groin hits.

[@gracesprocket7340]

Have you seen the Adorea longsword duel? Or Magna Moosy, or the Nova Aetas practices. Their choregraphy is better than most - with convincing attacks from within measure (done with safety in mind, and built up fromm little building blocks, but each attack is "to" the proper target, just deliveree short, or slightly aside until 'laid on' for a slice, grapple or 'touch', or cut away from - the attacks aren't 'to the sword' or out of measure, which sells them so much betterer.

[@IAmTheAce5]

Hey, if you want to keep this up, may I recommend Belegarth? I don’t know if they’re in England, but just in case, I’d hope you enjoy the mad fun of full-contact foam fury!

[@darlenesmith515]

That is so cool, I always wanted to learn sword fighting. Thanks for sharing,Jill!

[@karicorvidae]

I agee with Ruben. I would recommend a local H.E.M.A. group. Historical European Martial Arts - especially German longsword. They are full of happy, friendly, wonderful history nerds, at least where I'm from. My coach told us that if it was not listed as a move in the medieval sword manuals we weren't allowed to use the move. It is a perfect blend of sport and nerdy history stuff. You will need a sword, gambeson, face mask, and massive gloves, although many groups have gear to borrow until you can get your own. Highly recommend it. (Side note: I find it rather funny that "hema" in Latin means blood, and in this sport you will get lots of bruises due to blunt sword strikes) 😊

[@Evershear]

well, that looked like it was great. thanks for sharing your experience.

[@LeifNelandDk]

Naturally noone will mock the dress of anyone who are going to hit you with a fist or rapier, and might just accidentally forget the pretend part.

[@FunkyM217]

I did some sword-work once. Nowhere near that level. I remember the instructor looked a bit like David Tennant. We ended up not really using much sword work, because we only really had plastic swords. But hey, Congrats anyways. :)

[@AmaranthOriginal]

And by the end, you didn't want to go... ...sorry

[@vernowietsch]

This sounds like... the absolute best hobby ever?? How do I get into this? How do I even *find* people that offer this?

[@FIDreams]

I here you Jill, I'm here in California USA and for the last 3 weeks we've had 35 to 40.5 (95 to 105 degree fahrenheit for all others) I'm Really tired of Summer right now, but atleast I wasn't sword fighting. Just pushing carts and unloading trucks. lol

[@dallassukerkin6878]

Very interesting observation on the emotional intensity of it all :nods:. Reminds me a little, with a slightly different emphasis, of my old (in my far distant youth) Kung Fu days - the sparring could get pretty full-on intense and you got good at reading when someones emotions were spiking out of the 'practice' zone and they were starting to get a little bit too 'engaged'. And, as an Englishman, I too found it deeply troubling to be told that, if you accidentally belted someone harder than you intended, you were not to apologise ... just be better at control next time! :chuckles:.

[@charlesfisher-kh5sw]

I didn't know you could learn fake fighting from an armoured personnel carrier

[@nolanmcbride5653]

So I know what I’m doing next time I’m in England

[@victorsuciu3794]

Why do I keep reading "stage wombat" haha

[@SuperGhettoBob]

2:45 Xena's friend was Gabrielle.

[@JillBearup]

I seem to recall she got better at hitting things as the seasons went on. I leave it to your good judgement which season I best represent at the moment :D

[@SuperGhettoBob]

Who am I to judge? I only watched Xena for the lesbian subtext to feed my male empowerment fantasies, not to critique fighting choreography. When I was in the Army, I endured a few lessons in hand to hand combat training, but if those ever wound up on youtube, that would be more for laughs than educational. I have no balance, and one thing I learned from boxing is that you fight with your feet.

[@daveturner6006]

Insect repellent doesn't actually repel insects...it just kills them after they bite you!

[@grahamburchell2065]

Very cool

[@kramermariav]

I wanna do this!

[@JillBearup]

It is the most fun time XD

[@shadycactus6146]

wait, why do you need to be staring the other person in the eyes constantly? wouldn't it make more sense to look at their weapon or where you're striking? also, re: the crying: massive, *massive* mood lmao

[@JillBearup]

Funnily enough, looking them in the eyes is preferable. I would have assumed the same, but it’s actually much easier to target and block while looking in their eyes. It also makes both of you less anxious in my experience 😁

[@shadycactus6146]

huh, interesting

[@keithcallen2844]

Stage combat is not amazing, it's theater. But yeah! for you! Have fun... I guess... with that.

[@TheInnerParty]

I would *almost* bet the family jewels that you are an INTP? 🤓

[@JillBearup]

Good thing you didn’t bet them! 😁 Close, though, as it’s INTJ (IIRC, which I think I have).

[@TheInnerParty]

@@JillBearup I knew "INT". Thought "P" because you *seem* to have to possess so many interests from literature, to science, to all sorts of eclectic little rabbit holes.. yet you never talk about your actual job, which implied "P" to me as well.... and the "J" is sort of the enemy of that... since it forces you to give up something now for something else in the future. The "P" loves its cherishes "possibilities" within life-experience. I believe (will verify) INTJ is the most rare type among females? Regardless, love your channels. I especially like the science channel since your perspective is usually rather interesting to me.

[@owlsilverfeather]

Stage combat is wonderful! I had a bit across my high school and college years, and then in outside theater, but for the most part I've been performing lightsaber stage combat (yes, lightsaber) for 11 years. I currently perform with Rogue Alliance. Check it out! (I'm the short girl with short brown or black hair in pictures, in costume I'm in red and black with wings) www.roguealliance.org/ facebook.com/RogueAllianceNYC/ instagram.com/roguealliancenyc/

[@daveturner6006]

In hot weather you'd do better to wear loose, white clothing...think Arab!