I'm not sure if Nedo only did that because of his opponent; he came in extremely close quarters and they both ended up using the forte of their weapons almost guard to guard, Nedo might have moved the point far out of line intentionally to get more maneuverability and leverage (strange bout, Nedo tries to stay the correct distance to touch with the tip while his opponent slashes at him like he has a sabre and is determined to somehow hit with any part of his weapon)
I think some of you guys are missing what's going on. For the blocking of the shot, Nadi has to stay in the right side of the screen, and so all the "action" has to be done by the other guy. If you look at the raw footage at the end, you can see the other guy struggleing to defend himself against..nobody. Guys, this is a performance, not a real competition. And if you watch the action a few times, you'll see the other guy's bladework is pretty savvy.
I've noticed something from watching footage of Nedo and Aldo fence each other: they both bend their knees for greater stability when they intend to plant and defend with parries in place, then straighten and raise their centre of gravity when they advance/retreat so they can move more lightly with less grounding. It's fascinating to watch, they advance/retreat into a position they're happy with then just stay there for a flurry of bladework. It's very different from modern fencers who have a constant deep knee bend and power through their footwork, as opposed to the Nadis' way of finessing it
I believe I know what you mean, it may have to do with the way right of way is called at that time with the point having to be on target and threatening. Also in the non electric era there was a higher risk of counterattack with an attack on preparation or even derobement. As a result light and precise footwork was a necessity...stop on a dime. You still see some of that lightness in the Russian Romankov, Romankov vs. Shreck on youtube. With the way right of way is called today, the risk of counterattack is decreased hence, perhaps, the more offensive stance. Things change.
@@Senecart81 thanks for the recommendation, I watched the Romankov vs. Shreck Olympic bout, very interesting! I see what you mean, Romankov has very light, fast footwork (also noticed Schreck has a very nice ballestra!) I think Romankov might be using a tactic that I've heard sabrist Aron Szylagi employs, moving rapidly in and out of their opponent's range so that they'll hopefully misjudge the distance and fall short, over-extend, or do something similar to provide an opening. Romankov seems to favour a stop-hit. Both of them use footwork that has more in common with today's fencing - I can't imagine the Nadis bouncing! The reason I find it interesting is my own bias. I did kung fun (wing chun) for years before switching to fencing. My automatic instinct in a combat situation was to not move much and plant in place so that if I was hit, I could absorb the impact; my coach tried repeatedly to correct my 'heavy' footwork, get me to quit stopping between advances hence losing right of way, and prevent me from turning into a standing target at my opponent's convenience. I'm starting to get around it by raising my centre of gravity slightly; it breaks my martial art instinct and lets me move much more lightly. At training last night I used multiple flunges and fleches, straightening for the launch into attack, then bending my knees after landing the touche so I could pull up before I collided with my opponent; in the case of a flunge I landed a sabre cut with it and reversed momentum in time to retreat and bring my blade in a defensive position before my opponent could counter-attack successfully, all by changing my centre of gravity slightly between actions. It was very useful! I've recently adopted Aldo's heel-lifted stance after reading his book, and I've long favoured his central guard position over an out-wide garde sixte. It's not for everyone, but some of his principles are applicable to modern fencing, given the right context.
@@fionatsang9353 Ha! I learned the center guard first from my coach, mainly french school. My coach, at that time on his sixties, took some lessons from the British Olympic coach. Polish. The coach fleched at him several times attempting to get through his guard, my coach made tiny parries, successfully from his center guard. When done the coach remarked, " I can't get through with a simple attack, and complimented his center guard calling it, "advanced". So, not for everyone, but it can work very well. Bruce Lee has some nice writings on Fencing if you haven't already seen them. Also a very nice book from Nadi's era is , " The Fencer's Companion" by Leon Bertrand. Very clear and concise explanations. Good luck on your fencing! It sounds like you have a great mindset, technically oriented. Learn " Parry on the advance" with riposte, it's worth a couple touches every match.
@@fionatsang9353 also believe you are right about Romankov footwork, they trying to maneuver the opponent so they can attack as the opponent just begins moving forward.
I wish either aldo or nedo nadi were alive today, i would love to have met them - also i'd really appreciate it if someone could answer this question, why do people rarely fence with their non fencing hand in the position nedo keeps it in in this video - i will admit i do rarely fence this way but i was just curious if there was a reason people no longer seem to do this
As was explained to me by my first coach. Duels were often fought at night, to keep the authorities from arresting you, dueling being illegal most of the time in most European countries. So the duelist would carry a lantern in the back hand. Then it became apparent that throwing the back hand as you lunge would extended the lunge, thank you Sir Newton. However if you put it to the test you'll find that keeping your hand low and throwing it in a lunge works equally as well. So why bother getting your shoulder tired holding the arm up that way?
This is quite a late reply, but then again so are the other two. The idea of positioning the hand this way was developed by the French School of Fencing in the mid-1600s when they began to deemphasis the Italian practice of holding the hand in front of the chest for defensive reasons. If done correctly, it encourages you to keep the your torso profiled and upright in guard and letting it fall backwards counterbalances your sword arm in the lunge. It will make your shoulder sore in the beginning, but this is only because people tend to tense up in positions the are not used to, once you have practiced it for a while it's no problem. Why sport fencing coaches don't insist on it I don't know, it's certainly not the only effective position for the left hand, but it is the one that was used by almost all masters (the exception being the Southern Italians, they held onto the old-school rapier position into the 19th century) for the entire history of foil and épée.
He takes his point off-line a fiar bit, when he needs to. Thanks for putting this up, BTW.
I'm not sure if Nedo only did that because of his opponent; he came in extremely close quarters and they both ended up using the forte of their weapons almost guard to guard, Nedo might have moved the point far out of line intentionally to get more maneuverability and leverage (strange bout, Nedo tries to stay the correct distance to touch with the tip while his opponent slashes at him like he has a sabre and is determined to somehow hit with any part of his weapon)
I think some of you guys are missing what's going on. For the blocking of the shot, Nadi has to stay in the right side of the screen, and so all the "action" has to be done by the other guy. If you look at the raw footage at the end, you can see the other guy struggleing to defend himself against..nobody. Guys, this is a performance, not a real competition. And if you watch the action a few times, you'll see the other guy's bladework is pretty savvy.
Interesting, I have one of Nadi's books written in 1943.
Nedo is dead in 1940 ...probably a posthumous book
It's interesting to see how well he parries during the in fighting.
I've noticed something from watching footage of Nedo and Aldo fence each other: they both bend their knees for greater stability when they intend to plant and defend with parries in place, then straighten and raise their centre of gravity when they advance/retreat so they can move more lightly with less grounding. It's fascinating to watch, they advance/retreat into a position they're happy with then just stay there for a flurry of bladework. It's very different from modern fencers who have a constant deep knee bend and power through their footwork, as opposed to the Nadis' way of finessing it
I believe I know what you mean, it may have to do with the way right of way is called at that time with the point having to be on target and threatening. Also in the non electric era there was a higher risk of counterattack with an attack on preparation or even derobement. As a result light and precise footwork was a necessity...stop on a dime. You still see some of that lightness in the Russian Romankov, Romankov vs. Shreck on youtube. With the way right of way is called today, the risk of counterattack is decreased hence, perhaps, the more offensive stance. Things change.
@@Senecart81 thanks for the recommendation, I watched the Romankov vs. Shreck Olympic bout, very interesting! I see what you mean, Romankov has very light, fast footwork (also noticed Schreck has a very nice ballestra!) I think Romankov might be using a tactic that I've heard sabrist Aron Szylagi employs, moving rapidly in and out of their opponent's range so that they'll hopefully misjudge the distance and fall short, over-extend, or do something similar to provide an opening. Romankov seems to favour a stop-hit. Both of them use footwork that has more in common with today's fencing - I can't imagine the Nadis bouncing!
The reason I find it interesting is my own bias. I did kung fun (wing chun) for years before switching to fencing. My automatic instinct in a combat situation was to not move much and plant in place so that if I was hit, I could absorb the impact; my coach tried repeatedly to correct my 'heavy' footwork, get me to quit stopping between advances hence losing right of way, and prevent me from turning into a standing target at my opponent's convenience. I'm starting to get around it by raising my centre of gravity slightly; it breaks my martial art instinct and lets me move much more lightly. At training last night I used multiple flunges and fleches, straightening for the launch into attack, then bending my knees after landing the touche so I could pull up before I collided with my opponent; in the case of a flunge I landed a sabre cut with it and reversed momentum in time to retreat and bring my blade in a defensive position before my opponent could counter-attack successfully, all by changing my centre of gravity slightly between actions. It was very useful! I've recently adopted Aldo's heel-lifted stance after reading his book, and I've long favoured his central guard position over an out-wide garde sixte. It's not for everyone, but some of his principles are applicable to modern fencing, given the right context.
@@fionatsang9353 Ha! I learned the center guard first from my coach, mainly french school. My coach, at that time on his sixties, took some lessons from the British Olympic coach. Polish. The coach fleched at him several times attempting to get through his guard, my coach made tiny parries, successfully from his center guard. When done the coach remarked, " I can't get through with a simple attack, and complimented his center guard calling it, "advanced". So, not for everyone, but it can work very well. Bruce Lee has some nice writings on Fencing if you haven't already seen them. Also a very nice book from Nadi's era is , " The Fencer's Companion" by Leon Bertrand. Very clear and concise explanations. Good luck on your fencing! It sounds like you have a great mindset, technically oriented. Learn " Parry on the advance" with riposte, it's worth a couple touches every match.
@@fionatsang9353 also believe you are right about Romankov footwork, they trying to maneuver the opponent so they can attack as the opponent just begins moving forward.
no disrespect intended but did the master poke himself with his mask at :33? he was just kidding, right? great video. thanks.
showing off his speed?
I wish either aldo or nedo nadi were alive today, i would love to have met them - also i'd really appreciate it if someone could answer this question, why do people rarely fence with their non fencing hand in the position nedo keeps it in in this video - i will admit i do rarely fence this way but i was just curious if there was a reason people no longer seem to do this
As was explained to me by my first coach. Duels were often fought at night, to keep the authorities from arresting you, dueling being illegal most of the time in most European countries. So the duelist would carry a lantern in the back hand. Then it became apparent that throwing the back hand as you lunge would extended the lunge, thank you Sir Newton.
However if you put it to the test you'll find that keeping your hand low and throwing it in a lunge works equally as well. So why bother getting your shoulder tired holding the arm up that way?
This is quite a late reply, but then again so are the other two. The idea of positioning the hand this way was developed by the French School of Fencing in the mid-1600s when they began to deemphasis the Italian practice of holding the hand in front of the chest for defensive reasons. If done correctly, it encourages you to keep the your torso profiled and upright in guard and letting it fall backwards counterbalances your sword arm in the lunge. It will make your shoulder sore in the beginning, but this is only because people tend to tense up in positions the are not used to, once you have practiced it for a while it's no problem. Why sport fencing coaches don't insist on it I don't know, it's certainly not the only effective position for the left hand, but it is the one that was used by almost all masters (the exception being the Southern Italians, they held onto the old-school rapier position into the 19th century) for the entire history of foil and épée.