Parallels between the art of ballet and that of sword-fighting have been drawn since the dance form was born in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries.
To the skilled practitioner, there are many obvious common characteristics. Both grueling disciplines involve strength, endurance, balance, grace and even highly similar formalized positions.
To the uninitiated, the relationship may not be as obvious. But the benighted observer would have found the comparison easier to understand at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum on Sunday, Dec. 8. That’s when a group of young male dancers from Ann Brodie’s Carolina Ballet company took a class in saber fighting taught by Joe Long, the Relic Room’s curator of education.
“They were a joy to work with,” Joe said later. “They’ve got the energy, they’ve got the movement skills.”
Based on James McAuley’s New & Improved BroadSword Exercise manual from 1838, Joe has offered similar classes and demonstrations before a variety of events, such as the Christmas in Cayce event the previous day, the commemoration of the Battle of Aiken, Tartan Day, and to a wide array of groups, such as Trail Life groups, the Army JROTC program in Landrum, and the Daughters of 1812 group in Columbia. “It’s a very flexible program,” says Joe, and it adapts well for a variety of purposes.
In this case, he offered the session in response to a request from a board member of Ann Brodie’s company, Bentley Coffey, who also teaches economics at the University of South Carolina. He got involved with ballet because of his twin daughters’ intense involvement in the discipline over the last few years. Earlier this year, he and the girls attended the Tulsa Ballet’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” As a former member of the fencing club in his high school days, he was very impressed by the swordplay demonstrated on that stage.
“Romeo and Juliet” isn’t the only ballet famous for sword-wielding. For Carolina Ballet as for other companies, “The Nutcracker” is the biggest production of the year (this year, it was presented at the Township right after Thanksgiving). It features a huge cast, and most of the male performers find themselves brandishing blades at some stage of the production. Dr. Coffey thought, what if they could do so with a knowledge and skill more in line with their dancing ability?
Too often, he thought, boys are in the background in ballet. The focus is on a girl or woman, and the male is usually there as her partner and to lift her into the air – something boys usually can’t do until puberty. But there are lots of younger boys in The Nutcracker, and lots of swords.
So at his request, Joe welcomed the boys to the museum for some lessons in the way swords have been historically used in the military. And before the sword drills, he took them on a tour of the museum, showing them some of the real blades once used in battle. Then, he issued them specially made curved sabers made of foam, but weighted like a real sword.
The boys seemed fully engaged in the lesson, and both Joe and Bentley Coffey were pleased at the result.
Before it ended, Joe told the boys and their parents one more important thing they should know: SwordFest, possibly the most popular event on the museum’s calendar each year, is coming up on January 25. That’s an occasion that no one interested in the way such blades have been used in history – and in fantasy as well – can afford to miss.
Joe Long and Bentley Coffey demonstrate some of the finer points to the class.
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