Katherina Weyssin's blog

We got through a lot:

William and Katherina practiced for a performance of Ginevra, and Caterine taught it to Ludwig. We re-learned Fiamma d'Amore. We tweaked a few details of La Figlia de Guglielmino and Presonera. We ran through Chiara Stella, at high speed, several times in a row. We all practiced out fioretti (and tried out the passage from passamezzo where you circle with fioretti and trabuchetti). And finally, we declared ourselves too tired to make it through La Volta, and retired for dessert.

Revision of the sequence:

• your opponent attacks
• you parry, then thrust
• your opponent parries your thrust
• you take the momentum from the parry, snap into Ox, and thrust on the other side

On both sides, and building it up slowly, as we had some newer people.

All the dancers tonight were quite experienced, so we got through a lot of material, refining the details as we went:

• La figlia de guglielmino (spent a while on this one, getting timing and spacing just so)
• Presonera
• Amoroso
• All the mixed branles: Cassandra, Pinagay, Charlotte, La Guerre, Aridan
• Ginevra (because Katherina and William want to perform it next weekend)
• Pungente Dardo
• Contentezza d'Amore
• La volte

Lots of fun, and lots of work.

We revised what we've been doing for the last several weeks. William and Ludwig noticed some interesting connections between the response in ochs to a counter-thrust which is parried (he attacks - you parry and thrust - he parries your thrust - you snap into Ochs and thrust anyway) and the 8-part play were were working on before that. I'll leave them to write it up.

We had a really good group tonight: lots of people, some new, some quite experienced. We're still working our way through the ball list for St Catherine's and CF, making sure it's all fresh.

We started with a quick run through some of the Old Measures, for everyone:

We intended to quickly revise all the material we did last week, then make our way through the next sections. Instead, we found ambiguities and complexities we hadn't noticed last week, and never made our way out of the first paragraph:

How you shall intercept and counterthrust from the Straight Parrying against an opponent who cuts at you from below.

2.76r, Forgeng p196

I'm going to start by giving Forgeng's translation of Meyer's text here, so I can refer back to it:

Quick revisions of:

• Earl of Essex
• Old Almain
• Black Almain
• Cassandra, Pinagay, Charlotte
• Chiara Stella

More work on:

• La Volta
• Presonera

And we didn't quite get to Il Canario. Maybe next week.

We continue to work our way through Book II of the rapier section:

How you shall intercept and counterthrust from the Straight Parrying against an opponent who cuts at you from below

2.76r, Forgeng p196

Our classic Meyer defense against cuts or thrusts below your guard, called sperren or "barring" in the section on parries:

• pivot on your back foot, lowering your point, catching your opponent's blade with your long edge
• thrust at his face, stepping forwards with your front foot

Extra notes this time, from Meyer:

The dance list for the ball at Canterbury Faire next. We will be practising many of these over the next few weeks (until formal dance practices finish for the year in early December).

• The Earl of Essex Measure
• The Old Almain
• The Black Almain
• A Galliard
• The Mixed Branles of Champagne: Cassandra, Pinagay, Charlotte, La Guerre, Aridan
• The Branle de la Montarde, for sets of four

  - The Tassel-kick -

We worked our way through much of the CF ball list, and wi

ll cover the rest over the next few weeks.

Quick revisions of:

• Earl of Essex Measure
• Old Almain
• Black Almain
• Mixed branles: Cassandra, Pinagay, Charlotte, La Guerre
• Chiara Stella

Longer practise of: