Is rapier combat choreographed?
No. It is actual fencing. It is not staged in any form or fashion. How is rapier combat different from modern fencing? Rapier combat is a martial art and is taught in the dueling combative tradition. Because the techniques of rapier combat evolved from a fighting tradition, the focus of the training is to enable the fencer to survive in an actual combative situation. These techniques were and have been utilized in armed confrontations of this type well into the 17th-18th centuries. Modern fencing is a sport and is taught in the sporting tradition. Modern fencing evolved from the martial art of rapier combat but it is not in fact a martial art. The techniques of modern fencing have evolved solely to enable the fencer to win at a game and sport that has completely divorced itself from its combative roots. The focus of the training is to enable the modern fencer to win at a game. Do you fight real duels? Yes. We fight serious and deadly duels. The challenge can come at any time from these
