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Fightcabulary: En Garde

4/16/2020

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The term en garde is French in origin and means, as you might guess, “on your guard” or “get ready because vigorous attempts at stabbing are about to occur.” 

In the sport of fencing, the phrase en garde is called by the director of a match as a signal for the fencers to assume the prescribed position for the beginning of the match. At LANCE Training or during our shows, you’re much more likely to hear one fight partner saying en garde directly to another as a verbal cue that they are ready for the fight to begin, like a quarterback shouting “hut” at the start of a play in football as opposed to the umpire calling “batter up” during a baseball game. It’s more informal, more peer-to-peer, but no less necessary between fight partners. 

​
When it comes to characterization, LANCE performers treat the phrase en garde almost as performative dialogue rather than as an official term. It is a kind of trope-ish shorthand that can signal to the audience a few things about a character all at once: 
  • They’ve had some formal instruction in combat
  • They are a principled person, a person with honor, a person who values fairness
  • They are dignified, possibly aristocratic. 
To put it in today’s terms, en garde is like virtue signaling. After all, it takes a certain kind of character to say “En garde!” at the beginning of a fight. We all know the type. We’ve seen that character repeated over and over in the books, movies, and TV shows we’ve consumed all our lives. When you’ve only got a 30-minute show to tell your story, you’ll understandably want to use all the tropes you can to help the audience understand the plot and its characters. En garde is one of those useful, trope-y phrases on top of its other purpose as communication between fight partners. 

One last use of the phrase en garde is as a state of being. You’ll often hear LANCE Trainers telling students to “get en garde”, meaning that they want the student to assume a ready stance. Granted there are lots of guards a person can take at the beginning of a fight. En garde is simply choosing one of these stances and doing it. 

And that’s en garde in a nutshell! Which word should we do next in our Fightcabulary series? Let us know in the comments below!
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At The Tavern: A Renaissance Faire PLaylist

11/13/2016

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Songs frequently heard at a Renaissance Faire vary from traditional and melancholy to modern and downright dirty, but no matter what the words or melody, half the fun of hearing faire songs is singing along with them! With that in mind, and with the knowledge that much of the cast for this year's living chess match at The Orlando Renaissance Festival are new to RenFaires in general, I have compiled a Spotify playlist of my favorite tunes for your listening pleasure!
PictureThat's Carl Asch as Giacomo the
Jester and Lynda Kavy as
Looney Lucy!
It's worth noting that half of Empty Hats, one of the bands featured prominently on this playlist, will be performing at ORF is year! Watch for their shows and be sure to say hello to them in the lanes. They are lovely people! 

The Dubliners and The High Kings are very popular for their renditions of traditional Irish ballads, and the rest of the musicians on this playlist either wrote the song they're singing or else performed my favorite version of it. As a warning, some of the songs have questionable language and saucy themes, so they may not be totally safe for work.

There are a bunch of great tunes on this playlist, and many that I have loved since I was a child, but arguably the most important song on this playlist for LANCE members is The Parting Glass, a traditional song that probably originated in Scotland in the 17th century. It is a song sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It's a bittersweet song about parting ways.

You see, it is a long-standing tradition among many stage combat troupes to choose a final song to sing together to signify their bond at the end of a show. After all the rehearsals, after the bruises and aching joints from running fights for the hundredth time, after accidental stabbings with pins while slaving away over costumes, after getting to know dozens of characters and interacting with them for days at a time, after stumbling over lines and forgetting blocking and coming up with brilliant one-liners on the spot and laughing and yelling and stage fright and inside jokes, there is an end. And when we as a cast reach that end, it feels important to mark it somehow, to put a stake down in our memories and say, "This was it. We were here together as one thing, and after this moment we part as something else." That is what a final song is for, and that is what The Parting Glass will be for LANCE Orlando. 

It took us a long time to choose a final song we felt was worthy of our troupe. When we finally did, it seemed fitting to begin our version of this tradition after our biggest show ever, the living chess match at ORF. 

​No one has to sing, of course. Sometimes it's just as powerful to listen. But in case you do want to give singing our final song a go, there's a version in the playlist by The Wailin' Jennys, and below is a version by Ed Sheeran (my personal favorite), another by Glen Hansard, and another by fan favorite The High Kings. I've also included the lyrics LANCE will be using below. Enjoy!

THE PARTING GLASS

Of all the money that e'er I had
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Good night and joy be with you all

A man may drink and not be drunk
A man may fight and not be slain
A man may court a pretty girl
And perhaps be welcomed back again
But since it has so ought to be
By a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Good night and joy be with you all
What's your favorite faire song? Share it in the comments section below! If it's not on the playlist already, I'd love to add it!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy listening to the playlist! See you at the faire!
--Casey, Webmaster
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The Adventures of Robin Hood

3/12/2016

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If you happen to be a fan of old-timey television, British period dramas, and swashbuckling adventures, boy have we got a show for you! It's called The Adventures of Robin Hood, and it's about to bowl you over with awesome. Here's a summary from the IMDb page for the series:
A long-running series of adventures featuring Robin of Loxley - Robin Hood - and his group of Sherwood-Forest-based freedom fighters. Robin and his men protected England from the evil machinations of Prince John while good King Richard was away at the Crusades. The series was primarily intended for children, and was unusual in that it frequently re-used the same actors in different roles, or different actors in recurring roles.
Written by Marg Baskin
The show, which aired 143 episodes from 1955 until 1960, starred Richard Greene, Alan Wheatley, and Bernadette O'Farrell, among others. It features one of the best theme songs in living memory and a healthy dose of good-natured camp. A solid chunk of the show is available to watch on YouTube, but we're going to start you off with the first episode right here. You're welcome. 
Thank you to VP Michael for this excellent suggestion. We hope you all enjoy it as much as we have!

-- Casey, Webmaster
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Video Round-Up

1/12/2016

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LANCE gets a lot of inspiration from the creativity and badassery of other organizations out there. We share videos between members all the time that are nothing short of amazing, and we thought our blog readers would get a kick out of them too. So, for your viewing pleasure, here are three videos LANCE members have been buzzing about recently!
Yeah, that's what you think it is: MMA-style knight fighting.

M-1 Global started this thing called M-1 Medieval a few years ago featuring knights sporting full armor and gorgeous, manful beards beating the crap out of each other with swords and shields. What started as a bit of a curiosity has emerged as a full-on sports league with rankings and divisions. It looks like M-1 Medieval might be here to stay.

Follow your favorite fighters on the rankings page of the M-1 Global website. Be warned: most of the current fighters are Russian. For now. You can check out more M-1 Medieval fights on YouTube. And do they have a Facebook page? You bet your lion rampant they do!  

Read More
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The Birthday Dirge

11/10/2015

 
LANCE hasn't been around for long, be we have enough of a grip on our cultural identity to know that the average "Happy Birthday to You" song just isn't going to cut it. We think that LANCE members deserve a little something extra from their birthday wishes, and so I present to you The Birthday Dirge:
The lyrics vary widely, but there are a couple of sites that have gathered many of the more popular verses together into one place for your perusal and amusement. PunkWalrus.com and FAQs.org both offer an excellent selection of verses. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Burn the castle and storm the keep
Kill the women, but save the sheep


You've one lesson yet to learn
First you pillage, then you burn


May the cities in your wake
Burn like candles on your cake


I'm sure the creative-minded members of LANCE can come up with some good verses as well. If anyone's got a new verse to add, especially one that's themed to LANCE, leave it for us in a comment below!

Anyway, you get the idea of the song: doom and gloom and happy birthday, you burly old coot. That's exactly the sort of quality ditty LANCE members have come to expect from this troupe, and The Birthday Dirge rises to the occasion beautifully.

Welcome to your new favorite birthday song, and thanks for reading!

--Casey, Webmaster

P.S. Happy birthday, Ian!

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