posted 04-26-1999 07:57 AM
What kind of fight do you want to perform
(weaponless, stick-stick, knife, sword etc)?
As captainfrag said, the best thing to get a feeling for fighting, distance and "real look" is practising martial arts.For weapon - fights is also good to practise with Bo (long stick 1.80m) and Hanbo (half length of Bo) - this are standart weapons and if you can handle them good, itīs easy for you to learn other weapons (a good book for those techniques is "Stick - Fighting" from soke Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, grandmaster and head of the famous Bujinkan Dojo, the only authentic and proven Ninjustu school and organisation in the world, containing 9 several traditional japanese martial arts schools).
For weapon - fights (sword to sword, stick to stick, sword to stick) we always have this rules:
1) fight against the weapon, not against the opponents body.
2) distance: fight always with savety distance, so that if you missed a block, youīre not struck down by the opponents weapon.
3) choreography: work out an choreography, divide it into short sequences and practise them. Write good sequences down, so you can use them for other fights. If you fight a combination of some sequences with the right distance, and you miss a block, you can just step back and start with the interupted sequence again - the audience don't realize that.
Also with a goof fundus of fighting sequences, you can arrange a new fight for a new event in a few minutes...
With practising a lot and a good "feeling" for a fight, the audience donīt recognize thet you're fighting only against the weapons and with safety distance. Also mistakes gives the fight a touch of reality - in a real sword - sword fight, they often hit the air and have to take some seconds of rest, because swords are heavy 
...
So long, mail for further questions (bernd@vorsprung.de)
ciao
Bernd
P.S.: Wow, that UBB is nice 
[This message has been edited by Bernd Truckses (edited 04-26-99).]
posted 04-25-1999 03:17 PM