Video compilation with a big thanks to Stavros for making this.

Three days of fencing , fun , food , and friends  (and foolery ?)!

Fencing workshops and lectures, some local (liquid ) cultural activities, and a lot of fencing with friends!

Rapier, messer, longsword, sabre, smallsword, side-sword, historical dance, sword in one hand, Destreza, Thibault, …

The general theme of the workshop is to work across boarders: across disciplines, across instructors, schools, and styles.

There will always be one hall for free fencing.

 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Guido Gezelleplein, 8000 Bruges, Belgium

 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧: 02/05/2025, 03/05/2025, 04/05/2025

 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSc4nWCvDFTJWX…/viewform

 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬:

Ton Puey (Montante and Rapier & Dagger)
Ulrik Neumann (messer)
Sarina Wagner (historical dance)
Chris Lee Becker (Destreza rapier)
Peter Frank (sabre)
Blanca Baranda (Destreza rapier/dagger)
Lydia Ntafa (sword in one hand)
Jack Parkinson (Thibault rapier)
Torsten Schneyer (longsword)
Filip Bonte (Thibault rapier)
Damien Olivier (smallsword workshop and lecture and a shop of antique smallswords).
Sébastien Romagnan (Destreza rapier)
Aitor Blanco (Vulgar and Verdadera comparison)
Hannes Dendooven (Thibault longsword together with Jack P with Rapier in comparison)
Joris Jacops (Longsword / Katana)

 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬:

Friday afternoon: Iconic guided boat ride on the canals in Bruges  + visit to the brewery Bourgogne des Flandres , including a local beer .

Dinner on Saturday: in Bones spareribs  or other options from the menu (https://www.bonesbrugge.be/), vegan and vegetarian alternatives  are available

 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬:

 Coffee shop at the event with a professional barista and locally burned quality coffee

 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞:

Full event (three days of fencing classes, lunch included, excluding the extracurricular activities): €165
Per day: (lunch included, excluding the extracurricular activities): €80
Cultural outing on Friday: €35
Dinner on Saturday: €30

Please note that your registration will only be permanent after payment. You have to transfer the correct amount (calculating the correct amount will be explained below) to the following bank account:
Name of recipient: Academie de l’espee
Bank account number: BE34 6512 0998 4390
BIC: KEYTBEBB
Message/communication field: Your full name, BFG25.

Calculating your grand total:
The price for participating in all seminar sessions during all 3 days is  €165, this amount includes lunch for all 3 days. If you do not want to or cannot join the whole event, these are the prices per day:
– Friday (half a day, morning): €50 (lunch included)
– Saturday: €80 (lunch included)
– Sunday: €80 (lunch included)
In addition to the seminar classes, we have also organized a dinner on Saturday evening and a cultural outing on Friday afternoon (guided boat tour and visit at a local brewery). The prices for these (completely optional) extracurricular activities are:
– Dinner on Saturday evening: €30
– Cultural outing Friday afternoon: €35
There is also the possibility to buy a t-shirt and mug of the event (this is also completely optional): €20

Consequently, if you want to join all seminar classes (€165) and participate in all extracurricular activities (€30+ €35) this would result in a grand total of  €230. If you want to add a mug and t-shirt, you need to add €20, resulting in a total amount of €250.  You are free to pick and make any combination of activities that you prefer. For example, you can choose to participate in all seminar sessions for 3 days, come to the dinner, but be unable or not interested to join the cultural outing on Friday afternoon. In that case, your grand total would be  €195 (€165 + €30). Or you could opt for only joining on Friday and participating in the cultural outing, and you would like to buy a mug and t-shirt, in that case you would pay €105 (€50+ €35+€20).

 𝐋𝐨𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:

Hostel Lybeer Bruges (https://www.hostellybeer.com/)
D28 (https://www.d28.be/)
Hotel Groeninghe (https://www.hotelgroeninghe.be/en/)
Hotel ’t Putje (https://www.thehotelputje.com/)
Hotel en Gran Kaffee de Passage (https://www.passagebruges.com/en/)
Blabla Hotel (https://hotelblabla.com/)

All these hotels are very close to the location of the event and the city centre of Bruges. Do not wait, prices go up every day !

More about the instructors:

Ton Puey

He has been a founding member of AGEA (Asociación Galega de Esgrima Antiga), honorary member of FEEH (Federación Española de Esgrima Histórica), member of the editorial board and vice-president of AGEA editora (one of the longest and most regular publishers dedicated to historical fencing and specialised in Iberian fencing) and member of HEMAC (one of the first European associations of researchers and practitioners of European historical martial arts). He also founded together with Alberto Bomprezzi and Denis Fernandez Cabrera, the ESPADA – Ibero-American Community of European Historical Martial Arts for the international promotion of HEMA in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.  In 2015 he is recognised as Mestre de Armas by HEMA Portugal and in 2018 as the first non-Italian Historical Fencing Master by the Italian Fencing Federation.

He is currently technical director and Master of Arms at Academia da Espada, a school focused on the study of True Skill with branches in several Spanish cities as well as in Greece, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Romania, Hungary, USA and Mexico, studying the weapons of the moment of greatest splendour of the discipline, such as the rapier sword, alone or combined with dagger, buckler, buckler, rodela or cape and pole weapons, buckler, buckler, buckler or cape and pole weapons, as well as work on the interpretation of the rules of the 16th and 17th century upright and the study and interpretation of the other fencing currents of the time in the peninsula, especially the so far only treatise not belonging to the True Skill preserved, the “Arte de Esgrima” by Domingo Luiz Godinho.

As a teacher, in addition to his usual work as an instructor in A Coruña, Galicia, and the rest of the halls integrated in the Academia da Espada school, he has given seminars in Portugal, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Holland, Ireland, Greece, USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, China, Indonesia,Turkey, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Denmark and Sweden, This work is complemented by the authorship of some of the critical publications of AGEA editora, a publishing house specialising in the publication of Iberian fencing treatises, which he founded together with Manuel Valle, Denís Fernández Cabrera and Tomás Fernández Ahola in 2010, as well as publications in specialised magazines and lectures at the Mexican universities of UNAM and Toluca.

David Pascal (smallsword)

Due to longer revalidation than expected David will not be able to do his workshop, so instead we have another instructor Thomas Riviere, at the end you can see his workshop information.

Ulrik Neumann (messer)

In this workshop we will cover the core concepts of Lecküchner’s approach on winding and fencing from the bind with the Messer.

About me:
Ulrik started historical fencing in 2013 with Messer and Sabre. He currently is president of „Die Freifechter“ in Cologne, Germany, as well as head instructor for everything Messer-related.

In his historical fencing journey, Ulrik has learned to like and have fun with a lot of different HEMA-weapons and -styles, but his first and true love remains the Messer.

Over the years, he has taught workshops on Messer fencing at different international events and occasions. Contents varying from in-depth Lecküchner techniques to fencing-orientied applications of fundamental concepts and principles.

Sarina Wagner (historical dance)

She is not only well versed in old music and texts, but also studies historical dance and historical acting under Margit Legler.

For her, it is not only important to master the individual disciplines, but also to work across disciplines so that they can benefit from each other and create an interdisciplinarity and link between the arts and history.

This includes equestrian sports, which she has been practicing since the age of nine, and archery.

For her, it is important to find art and music in every movement and to give it expression.

She also sings as a soprano in the Chorus Cellensis ensemble, which specializes in Renaissance vocal works. Concerts have taken her all over Europe.

Chris Lee Becker (Destreza rapier)

In sporting terms, he participated in several tournaments and won the title of German Champion 2021 in the discipline of rapier and was awarded “Best Technical Fencer” at the International Rapier Seminar in Copenhagen in 2022.

Peter Frank (sabre)

Over the years he has taught workshops at a number of national and international events, be it about sabre, Spadroon, Klewang, Messer or bayonet fencing.

If you have ever had an interest into sabre, or similar weapons, but did not quite know where to start, of if your system mainly cuts from the elbow and/or shoulder, than this lesson might be of interest for you. I intend to give an insight into Hutton sabre, show how he cuts from the wrist and want to give you some exercises to you do to practice either the system or just the cutting from the wrist.

Blanca Baranda (Destreza rapier/dagger)

Rapier – alone or in combination with dagger – is the discipline to which she spends most of her practice and study. But she adds crossfit, boxing or kali in her personal training in order to improve martial arts skills.

Since 2014, she has focussed her studies on the treatise “Nobility of the Sword” by Master Francisco Lorenz de Rada. Impressed by the complexity of his system, she dedicates her training time trying to put the contents of this treatise into practice.

She passed the instructor’s exam in 2017 and has been an active member of the Sala’s teaching staff ever since.

She got an UGFAS medal in 2024 for the development of historical fencing and close combat weapons discipline. Can’t wait to follow her further, please keep posted for more…

Lydia Ntafa (sword in one hand)

Jack Parkinson (Thibault rapier)

Another area of focus for Jack is La Verdadera Destreza, in particular the work Of Gerard Thibault, on which he will give two workshops.

Torsten Schneyer (longsword)

But when we have a look at the historical sources we notice that especially in the civic “Fechtschulen” the use of protective gear was not common; in most cases not even gloves were worn.
So, have they all been complete bonkers? Most probably not. Even though there are sources for accidents in historical tournaments, their number stays way below the expectations.
The main reason for this lies in a different style of competitive fencing, that restricts the range of usable techniques and encourages (social) norms regarding the intensity and “heat” of a simulated sword fight.
My theory is; back then the contestants – at least in a peaceful, sportive context – the historical “Fechtschul”-fencing differed considerably from modern HEMA-sparring.
Today some HEMA-clubs endorse free fencing with steel feders without heavy protection (or no protection at all, and low- or no-gear-sparring is already raising a quite remarkable international fanbase!
For Torsten it is an integral part of his training and a valuable addition to his catalogue of free-fight exercises. Sparring with low or no protection gear enforces another way of fencing which enables the contestants to practice fencing techniques more consciously and deliberately. It teaches your all-round perception and enables reflected training, the style of fencing is becoming more technical and more prone to be “im Band”.

In this workshop Torsten is introducing you to this style of free fencing. He will explain the advantages and disadvantages, the opportunities and limits of this style and will show you useful exercises in order to approach this topic slowly and most important: safely.
The main part of this workshop will be free sparring with Torstens mental approach and ruleset
Some of you will learn a new, exciting and satisfying way to freeplay, experienced low-gear-enthusiasts will meet many great partners to train with.

Skill level of Participants: Advanced
Needed Equipment: Longsword/Feder, Mask, (light) gloves.
Highly advanced fencers, no-gear-veterans and experienced trainers can skip the mask for protective goggles instead and/or leave out the gloves at their own risk

About the trainer
Torsten Schneyer, 50 years old, is a HEMA-Teacher of the “old guard” and active since the late nineties. He founded two of the biggest german clubs for historical fencing and is the director of STAHLAKADEMIE, a professional HEMA-School located in Leipzig/Germany, where he teaches several times a week and mastered different disciplines: from the indispensable longsword, to wrestling, dagger, sword-and-buckler, messer, spear, staff, rapier, montante, bartitsu-stickfighting and whatever else.

www.stahlakademie.net

Filip Bonte (Thibault rapier)

After four years with the local HEMA club to learn traditional sword fighting, lessons in Spanish style Verdadera Destreza were started and the renaissance sword fighting was given a fixed place in Bruges. Principal rapier teacher for Spanish style fencing for almost 10 years. Aspects of the styles of Pacheco, Ettenhart and Thibault d’Anvers were incorporated into the Destreza courses to give pupils a broad spectrum of the destreza concepts and possibilities.
Well traveled and familiar with the events in Dijon, Vienna, Lubljana, Aldershot, Delft, A Coruña, Sevilla and many more.

Damien Olivier (smallsword workshop and lecture and a shop of antique smallswords).

One recurring element found in these texts is the engagement – how to perform it and how to respond when engaged by an opponent. This workshop will explore some of the techniques used in this context from different texts from these period texts, which are essential to start fencing with smallswords.

Damien Olivier started HEMA with French sabre manuals back in 2016. In recent years, he shifted his interest towards smallswords as antiques weapons and works of art, as well as their use in historical fencing.

Sébastien Romagnan (Destreza rapier)

Aitor Blanco (Vulgar and Verdadera comparison)

Aitor Blanco is graduated in Arabic Philology, Master´s degree in Intercultural Mediation, Postgraduate degree in Mediation in the health field and is currently completing the Social Worker degree. Aitor began training martial arts at the age of 5, and since then he has travelled through different martial traditions, such as Aikido, Iaido, Wing Chung, classical fencing or boxing. Twenty years ago he began his Destreza teaching career in Spain, directing the Sala de Armas in Castellón and focusing his study on La Verdadera Destreza from a martial and traditional perspective. His main concern until this day is to spread Verdadera Destreza in the most trustworthy and purist way possible, inside and outside Spain.

Joris Jacobs (Longsword/Katana)

In the workshop “The Shadow School of the Sword,” we delve into the ancient manuscript of the Kage Ryu, developed by its founder Aizu Hyūga-no-Kami Iko (1452–1538). This workshop offers a rare opportunity to explore the battlefield-tested techniques of Kage Ryu, one of the three ancient styles of katana and spear fighting, alongside Shinto Ryu and Chuko Nen Ryu.

Aizu Iko lived during the same period as Paulus Kal (1420–1485), providing us with a fascinating glimpse into the swordfighting practices of that era from opposite sides of the world. This workshop will focus on the following key elements:

1. Basic Stances in Old School Kenjutsu:
– We will begin by examining the fundamental stances used in Kage Ryu and compare them with the stances from the German tradition of swordsmanship. Understanding these stances is crucial for mastering the techniques and strategies of both styles.

2. Basic Techniques of Kage Ryu:
– Enpi (“Leaping Monkey”)
– Enkai (“Circling Monkey”)
– Yamakage (“Shadow of the Mountain”)
– Gekkage (“Moon and Shadow”)

3. Practical Exercises:
– The workshop is geared towards intermediate and advanced students, focusing on practical exercises that incorporate fencing knowledge from both Japanese and German traditions. Our holistic approach aims to provide students with a comprehensive toolbox to handle various situations during sparring

Sorry for the inconvenience and last minute changes:

Due to unresolved matters communicated to us by the FFAHME, Mr. Thomas Rivière is put un hold as an instructor at the Bruges Fencing Gathering 2025 until said matters are resolved.

Mr. Joris Jacobs will replace Mr. Rivière as instructor.

Thank you for understanding, and we look forward to welcoming you at the event. Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions.