I challenge you to a Duel!!!

Back in the day if someone got out of line you were allowed to challenge them to a duel, in which the winner would ultimately win the argument and the looser would, well, die. Naturally these moments were quite dramatic so, as actors we can only hope we get the opportunity to act out these moments of extreme conflict on stage! But in modern life we have no reason to carry swords around (well there are plenty of reasons to carry a sword around, its just not practical) so how will we be prepared to tackle these scenes when they come our way? Stage combat class yay!! In case you cant tell Ive been waiting for this part of class literally the whole semester.
So reading the chapter, was pretty much a recap of what we learned in class accept some good information on exercises to help with arm strength and it also helped me understand much more why we stand the way we do. For some reason it was just escaping me why we stand almost straight forward, in a somewhat unstable position when sword fighting. Its fake!! We need to make sure that our partner can see where there swinging at all times so that all the moves connect at the right places. No idea why that eluded me for so long, but I get it now.
Something else that I was noticing in the chapter that I am eager to see demonstrated was the stabs.  It talked about placing the flat of the blade on your partners side and the waiting for them to put their hand on it so you can bend the blade to make the stab look real. I can kind of see what you were talking about from the pictures in the book but I definitely look forward to seeing how that illusion comes together because I am not sure I understand it. But im not doubting you Jenn, you haven't let me down yet!

Side note: If the duel thing was still around I think it just might make the world a better place. People might think before they speak more. But its not... so we have the Jersey shore and Rush Limbaugh.

 Yours truely,
                      PVA