During the third session, we reviewed the leaning exercises, the well-ordered firm-footed lunge, three of the guards (ignoring prima for now), and finding the opponent’s sword on the inside line
New material this week was focused on gaining on the inside line. Starting from out of measures, the students were asked to approach, find on the inside line, gain the blade, and then thrust in quarta with a firm-footed lunge. The importance of a well-ordered lunge was emphasized, as was finding the correct measure for the lunge, and retreating out of the lunge in good order. Students seemed to have the most difficulty with the finding part of the drill, especially with establishing leverage – crossing the blades strong on weak. At the end, we briefly covered finding and gaining on the outside line, with the firm-footed lunge in secunda. For those with Duello.TV subscriptions, the relevant video is in the Rapier section: the second half of “Approaching 3: Finding & Gaining”.
The plan for the next session is to work some more on finding and gaining on both lines, perhaps adding the tessitura (weaving) drill, and to introduce the regular lunge and crossover lunge. For those with Duello.TV subscriptions I recommend reviewing the second half of “Approaching 3: Finding & Gaining” and watching “Approaching 2: Lunging Measures”.
