After yesterday’s longsword video, let’s add some lunges to our daily routine to prepare for that class. Of course, this footwork applies to numerous stage combat disciplines. Jared Kirby — fight director, martial artist, teacher and author — states that the audience perceives a character’s competence by their footwork. The audience may not know it, but if you move across the floor efficiently and with grounding, your physicality will tell the story of a person who knows what they’re doing. Add the following exercises to your daily routine to help make the footwork patterns become second-nature.
Here’s a video describing good lunges:
And here’s a set of “Compass” lunges. You’ll notice that it’s the same directions we commonly use in our in-class footwork drills:
-North (like in advances and passes)
-South (like in retreats, passes, rassemblements)
-East and West (like in traverses)
-NE, NW, SE, SW (like in thwarts)
N.B.: Yes, I’m a bit wobbly. I guess I had better get practicing!
You can also do them in order all the way around the circle:
To change it up and keep it interesting, remember that you can pivot and turn to return to neutral from any piece of footwork. You can also change your hip-to-foot relationship:
And to make it a bit more playful and maybe raise the amount of cardio, add some music and move your second foot (pretend there’s music playing):
Add this to your daily routine (or even every other day) as a way to get your mind and body ready for the work ahead.
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