Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

So I owe @SellswordArts an apology. A bunch of us HEMA Dinosaurs(tm), myself included, had a deep and visceral reaction to his statement that sabreurs double a lot bc sabre doesn't bind. That was "TRIGGERED" territory for a lot of us older farts who have screaming at clouds for 20 years trying to convince epee-pilled fencers that sabre isn't just "bouncy flail and bail." So a lot of us were straight-ass horrified at the pronouncement (which *is* inaccurate and highly-misleading -- had he said "many sabreurs are afraid to or taught not to bind, that would have been super accurate).

Which is a pity, because the intent of his video was a well-intentioned and HIGHLY accurate version of something we've talked about here on this channel: "Moron Telepathy is Bad," and a simple, high-quality drill designed to help break people out of it.

Or to quote Kat: "If I see an opening. And YOU see an opening. And we both go for the opening... we're both right. And we're both dead."

The FOCUS of his video was super good and worth paying attention to, especially if you're a young fencer who doubles a shitton without understanding why -- it's a drill I've had students doing for years now, and ANYBODY working to rid HEMA of Moron Telepathy is Doing God's Work(tm).

The more comfortable sabreurs get with performing actions in the bind (coupe, croise, attacks in opposition, transports, disarmaments, etc etc), rather than simply trying to flail-and-bail relying on your sense of speed and distance to protect you, the fewer doubles we'll see moving forwards.

So -- my bad, David. Next time we're in the same zip code for an event, I'll pick up your coffee/lunch/what-have-you.

7 months ago | [YT] | 43

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

St. George's Day Exhibition of Arms tickets are up and for sale.
Our instructors lists are still a little messed up, but tickets are live (the venue guys run the site directly and we're dependent on them for getting those updated). It's a different lineup than last year, MOSTLY in-lineage, but we have a guest instructor coming in from Florida to teach US Army sabre. :)

www.ticketleap.events/tickets/chateau-south/saint-…

7 months ago | [YT] | 8

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

In honor of ‪@OliverJanseps‬' new video series, we will do the long-overdue "Cooler Than Hutton: HUTTON" to discuss conceptions and misconceptions of the man. Interested parties can reach out via Patreon, HEMA Discord, or Facebook to get the participatory Zoom link (I have no idea how to do a YT live event with multiple participants, and lack the spoons to learn right now).

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 14

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

Okay, the mispost is fixed and deleted from this channel. It's now hanging out in my decidedly non-fancy alt-channel. If you were one of the ones who actually want to see that stuff, it's here:
https://youtu.be/pD4Gaz67qIk

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

Ooops. I uploaded a non-fencing thing based on a historical lecture spin-off (the rise and fall of the Reagan coalition) to the wrong channel. I'll let it roll in the (non-fencing) playlist tonight bc I'm wiped and gotta crash. Future stuff will go elsewhere, so you guys don't get spammed notification of things that aren't of interest. (Hopefully you DON'T get such notifications, but if that happened, it's on me.)

1 year ago | [YT] | 10

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

Video from the Brass Frog Assault at Arms will come available soon -- while I don't want to run "mainstream" style HEMA events, the benefit of having serious competitors going at each other while they're tired and under pressure cannot be overstated in terms of its value. Brass Frog is very much an exemplar for how "hema"/historical/classical fencing tournaments can be done for the more modern weapons form such as sabre, backsword, smallsword, etcetera, and if I *do* get stupid enough to actually start running a regular tournament again, it'll very much be drawn on those lines.

1 year ago | [YT] | 24

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

Hey folks, I blocked the mentality ill gentleman who was making the bizarre harassing comments. He's a known issue and has been reported to YT in the meantime. Sorry for not jumping on that more quickly.

1 year ago | [YT] | 15

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

Hi guys! This week is "wife-enforced vacation," because I'm getting THE LOOK. You know the one.
Before I get some footage from the St. George's Day Exhbition of Arms up, along with the next round of teaching videos, let me please take a moment to signal-boost.

First, my student Jacob has opened his own Youtube channel. @TheGreenRook
Jacob's had several brainstorms on video formats, and Kat's "Hey, Russ!" was actually his idea (Kat is threatening me with more of those, stay tuned)

Speaking of Kat, check out patreon.com/KatLaurangeArt.

Kat's art is a significant part of why my books are so nice, and without her I'd have almost none of the characteristic aesthetics of those book covers, or, point blank this channel.

Plus she's mo-ar charming than I am. I'm well aware a significant chunk of you watch my videos because she's in them. So if that's you or you just like her art, please consider bopping over to Patreon to check her out, even on a coffee-money basis. We don't monetize the channel and have consciously chosen to depend on subscriber, rather than corporate support, so any support for her artistic endeavors directly helps our community. Even coffee-money memberships add up and make a big difference to both our bottom lines.

1 year ago | [YT] | 17

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

"Hold the Hill"

While I was out teaching sabre at a private party in Central Texas, my student Jacob ("Rook," bc he either hangs back uselessly forever, or else is suddenly and overwhelmingly in your face, just like the chess piece) filmed what he calls "hold the hill" as opposed to "king of the hill."

It has the advantage of letting you see yourself over and over on film while everybody else gets to watch *you and your habits* over and over, thus later on allowing some fairly detailed critique.

https://youtu.be/pqAVimwIy4c?si=28qcn...

1 year ago | [YT] | 5

Russ Mitchell: Historical Fencer, Movement Expert

I have just uploaded recorded audio versions of my "Driving With Ease" seminar to my Patreon page: a roughly five-hour series, supporters at the $7/month level and above have 24/7 access. Additional series are coming available to those at higher tiers as I (re-) record lessons.

If you're in a position where you can benefit from this, or are willing to signal-boost, I'd greatly appreciate it, as this sort of thing is how I keep the channel viewer-supported rather than relying upon corporate sponsorship.

I developed this series to help a friend and colleague who hated driving but who suddenly needed to drive several hours per day due to a family health crisis. Since then it has helped MANY people learn to get out of their cars as relaxed, and sometimes even more so, than when they get in. If you hate driving, or know somebody who does, please consider trying this out.


www.patreon.com/collection/320472?view=expanded

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 13