The
Rapier
(Continued)
Footwork
Footwork
with the Rapier, as with any martial art, is a VERY important
commodity. As a result, you need to have proper
balance
.
You want to have equal balance on both legs with your posture
being straight. Rapier footwork is a little more natural than
the footwork used in fencing today. Of course there are similarities,
but with the Rapier you use more hops, skips, step, sidestepping,
and passing steps. But, that being said, you don't want to
make too many unnessesary movements. You can get caught with
you pants down, so to speak. Keep in mind you want to be offensive
and defensive at the same time. You want to be able to unload
off that back foot, reguardless of which leg is leading, to
add power to your thrust and quickness to your actions.
Footwork
Drills
Here
are some modified fencing footwork drills. The object here
is fluidity of motion. As you move you don't want to bounce
around, up and down,too much. Try to keep you torso level
for now. Keep in mind that with any drills you do, you want
to use some form of visualization. In the case of these footwork
drills you want to picture an imaginary opponent in front
of you. With this opponent, you want to picture him retreating
as you are advancing in on him and, him closing on you to
force your retreat. All the while you are keeping a safe distance
between you.
Get
into your "on guard" stance. If you want to use
your weapon pick it up, I recommend it but, it is not nessesary
to do the drill. Take a comfortable step forward with your
front foot followed by your rear foot, or an advance. Try
to keep your feet the same distance apart. Now take a comfortable
step backwards leading with your rear foot then followed with
the front foot or a retreat. Again, try to keep your feet
the same distance apart. Your naturally going to step heel
toe as you go forward and toe heel as you go backward. Also
keep in mind that not only are you stepping forward or backward
with your front or rear foot you are simultaneously propelling
yourself with the opposite foot.
Now
mix it up a bit, advance, advance, retreat, advance, retreat,retreat,
advance, etc....
Ok,
let toss in another element. The side step. With side stepping
there are a quite few of different moves you can use. So,
get into your "on guard" stance once again. Now,
instead of stepping straight forward you step to the side
with your lead foot, as if you were dancing the box step,
followed by your rear foot, ending up in your on guard stance.
OK, do the same thing but start with your rear foot. Step
out sideways with your rear foot, followed by your lead foot,
ending up in your original on guard position. Got it? Good.
To
incorporate these two new elements into your drill, you use
Side-Out for stepping to the outside of your weapon hand and
Side-In for stepping to the inside of your weapon hand. So
it would go something like advance, advance, retreat, side
out, advance, side in, retreat, side out, etc..... you can
also switch lead legs on the Side-Ins pending upon your skill
level. So you would be moving your rear leg up and lead leg
back without advancing or retreating.
You
can vary the Side-Out/Side-In by stepping forward and out
at a 45 degree angle instead of just stepping out to the side.
These would be called Cross-out and Cross-In. But on your
Cross-In you would actually step forward at a 45 degree angle
with your rear foot followed by your lead foot. A sort of
cross advance, which simply means to advance with your rear
foot.
Now
let's through in the Cross Advance. Nice segue huh? You simply
do this by stepping forward with your rear leg, similar to
walking or running, pending on your athletic ability :) Now
your "on guard" stance is with the opposite leg
leading, your feet the same distance apart they were in the
previous stance.
So
a drill would go something like advance, retreat, advance,
advance, side-out, retreat, side-in, advance, retreat, cross-in,
retreat, cross-out, advance, etc.....
Here's
one more tidbit for you. Drumming. Not with actual drums,
even though that helps with coordination. Get in your "on
guard" stance, now drum your feet on the floor, right,
left, right, left, and so on. This will help in a variety
of different ways. Strenght, coordination, stamina, etc.
That's
enough to get you started and then some. Later we will be
incorporating more advanced footwork by adding lunges and
other offensive and defensive moves.
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