Forteza Fitness

Victorian Martial Arts: Bartitsu Relaunches May 25th!!!!

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The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes is BACK! 

Bartitsu and the old Bartitsu Club were key components as we were designing the Forteza studio. Designed as a way to introduce other martial artists to the unique “fusion” and “combat improvisation” of Barton-Wright, the one major request we had from students was a more structured way to introduce new comers to the fundamental boxing, kicking, throwing and stick-fighting skills upon which Bartitsu is based.

We listened, and after a year of fine-tuning, Bartitsu returns to Forteza on May 25th with a five hour workshop taught by renowned Victorian martial arts historian and Bartitsu Club of Chicago founder, Tony Wolf. A highly experienced martial arts instructor, Tony has taught Bartitsu intensives in England, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Canada and throughout the USA. Tony also edited the two volumes of the Bartitsu Compendium (2005 and 2008) and co-produced/directed the feature documentary Bartitsu: The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes (2010).

New “Introduction to Bartitsu” Course

But the relaunch does not end with the workshop.  Tony will be ably assisted by Forteza instructors Nathan Wisniewksi and Treyson Ptak, who will then be taking the lead with our newly designed Introduction to Bartitsu course. Beginning June 5th, 6-week class is designed to instill basic striking, kicking, cane-fighting, grappling and safety skills. Perfect for those new to martial arts as well as those who are not familiar with the particular art which comprise Bartitsu, this course is high-energy, skills-focused and designed to lay a foundation that students will bring to on-going training in the Bartitsu Club of Chicago. The club meets twice a month for advanced training and “combat integration” – the unique blending of its component arts that makes Bartitsu an unique fighting art in its own right.

A Whole New World of Victorian Martial Arts

But Bartitsu is just one aspect of Forteza’s new Victorian Martial Arts program, which includes a wide-range of antagonistics, the study of fencing, boxing, wrestling and stick-fighting  typically combined with physical culture (calisthenics, gymnastics and weight-training) that was popular in Britain and America in the late 19th century. Forteza’s Antagonistics courses include:

  • Sabre and Bayonet Fencing;
  • Stick Fighting;
  • Bowie Knife and Tomahawk combat (most distinctly American weapons);
  • Physical Culture; a truly “old school” workout regimen of calisthenics, Indian clubs, and more!

As we have done previously with our wildly popular Bowie and ‘hawk seminars, Antagonistics will be taught in a series of workshops and short courses, allowing students with limited time and busy schedules to get chance to sample the breadth of 19th century martial culture.

How Can YOU Get Involved?

Whether you’ve trained us before or are brand new to any martial arts, there are many ways to jump in to the relaunch of our Victorian Martial Arts program, and the sooner you get involved, the more affordable it is!

Bartitsu Seminar Date, Sunday May 25th from 12-5pm
$60, $75 at the door

Introduction to Bartitsu Course, Starts on Thursday June 5th from 7-9pm:
Length – 6 weeks
Cost – $125, discounted to $100 for seminar attendees!

Pre-register for both the seminar and introduction for $150, a $50 savings!

Continuing Classes: Bartitsu Club of Chicago Starts on Friday July 11th from 7-8pm:

Classes are on the second and fourth Friday of each month

Cost: $50/month and includes on-going access to the Introduction class, providing 10 hours of training a month!
Antagonistics Courses
One day workshops and short courses are held throughout the year and registered for separately.
As you can see, if you are called to by the rough-and-tumble and gentleman duelist side of the Victorian-era calls to you, there are multiple ways to get involved and start training today!
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“Mrs. Pankhurst’s Amazons”: a thrilling tale of Suffragette super-heroines

Mrs Pankhursts Amazons teaser graphic updated

Coming in 2014: Mrs. Pankhurst’s Amazons, a three-part graphic novel series to be set in the Foreworld universe.

Taking place in the year 1913, the trilogy will chronicle the adventures of Persephone Wright, who leads a secret society of radical Suffragettes known as the Amazons.  As highly-trained saboteurs, insurgents and bodyguards, skilled in the martial art of Bartitsu, they fight for women’s rights in King Edward’s London. When the stakes dramatically escalate, the Amazons are thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse against an aristocratic, utopian cult …

Featuring a dynamic cast of both historical and fictional characters, Mrs. Pankhurst’s Amazons will be written by Forteza Bartitsu instructor Tony Wolf and published by 47North, the science fiction, horror and fantasy imprint of Amazon Publishing.

Rumor has it that the Forteza gym will serve as a model for a key location in the story …

 

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You are Cordially Invited…..Forteza’s Founders’ Ball!

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In Celebration of our First Anniversary

and the reinvention of the noble experiment of Ancient Swordplay, Self-Defense, FitnessPhysical Culture

begun by E. Barton-Wright and the Bartitsu Club over a century ago,

We are pleased to invite our students, friends, family and neighbors to a  night of music, merriment and a taste of derring-d0 – the Forteza Founders’ Ball!

Join us  on May 18th, 2013

at
Forteza Fitness & Martial Arts
4437 North Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640

Price: $30

Festivities will begin at 8:00 pm

Be sure to arrive no later than 9:00 pm  to enjoy the evening’s entertainment,  which will include several performances of  swordplay and action, and a special, theatrical performance of one of Hollywood’s  most famous duels.

We welcome our friends of imbibing age for  cocktails and dainty delicacies.

This is a formal affair, so wear you most dazzling duds, whether they be from modern times, or in keeping with our 19th century theme.

Either way, there will be complimentary photographic portraits available for all guests.

Reserve your spot at:

foundersball.fortezafitness.com

Please RSVP by May 10

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Bartitsu sparring at Forteza

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf7BaLR_L1g&w=480&h=360]

Bartitsuka Michael Mauch, Nathan Wisniewski and Tony Wolf, all of whom will be travelling to the UK in September to take part in the 2013 Bartitsu School of Arms event, demonstrate a variety of sparring drills including strike-only, thrust-only and freestyle formats.

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The Bartitsu School of Arms 2013: Beamish Museum, UK.

Forteza Bartitsu instructor Tony Wolf will be joining the teaching staff at the third annual Bartitsu School of Arms event, taking place at the Victorian/Edwardian themed Beamish living history museum near Newcastle, UK.

The School of Arms will be held over the weekend of September 14/15.

See http://www.bartitsu.org/index.php/about/the-bartitsu-school-of-arms-beamish-museum-2013/ for all details about this event.

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Bartitsu featured in new BBC TV documentary

The hour-long documentary Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: the Rise of the Martial Arts in Britain premieres on BBC4 at 10.00 pm on Sunday, Feb. 24th.  Charting the cultural impact of the Asian martial arts in the United Kingdom, it begins with a 12-minutes section on E.W. Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu cross-training system and the jujitsu-trained Bodyguard unit of the British Suffragettes.

Forteza Bartitsu instructor Tony Wolf was interviewed for the documentary, which also features Edwardian-era “antagonistics” displays by British Bartitsu instructors James Marwood and George Stokoe:

Please note that, because of BBC licence restrictions, the documentary and promotional clips are only intended to be viewable by people within the UK.

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2012: The Year in Martial Arts

From the clash of swords to a unique program for personal protection and self-defense, Forteza’s martial arts programs are not quite like anything else you’ll find in Chicago. Some of our programs have a long history in the city that precedes the studio’s opening by over a decade, while we are pleased to have given others their start.

HISTORICAL SWORDSMANSHIP: THE CHICAGO SWORDPLAY GUILD

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Martial arts training at Forteza began with the Chicago Swordplay Guild, the city’s only dedicated school for the study of medieval and Renaissance martial arts. In 2012 our new digs allowed us to greatly expand our class offerings in both Armizare (medieval martial arts) and Renaissance Swordsmanship.

Our Introductory, or “Taster”, classes were offered in two separate tracks, a 12-week session on Saturday mornings and a 6-week, twice-weekly session on Monday and Wednesday evenings; both tracks attracted a steady number of new swordplay students. Once the basics were learned, CSG members had a choice of two Novice/Foundation classes per week, firming up basic theory and technique.

Armizare saw a significant spike in new students from a wide variety of backgrounds, age groups, and interests that drew them to the sword.  The influx of new students meant that our Foundations classes have routinely been full and quite lively, as students take the basic lessons of stance, movement, body mechanics and simple attacks and defenses and learn to refine their skills and expand their application. Our expanded schedule also allowed us to introduce a dedicated Abrazare  (close quarter combat) class where students learned basic grappling safety skills, body mechanics, guards, fundamental throws and joint locks, and the nine “Masters” of dagger combat: nine core concepts related to line of attack and type of cover (one or two-handed) upon which the entire, extensive curriculum of nearly 80 formal techniques, and countless variations, can be organized.

Focus classes were organized in bi-or-tri monthly themes, and included “Using Provocations to Break Distance”, “Advanced Use of the Twelve Poste”, “Using Complex Attacks”, “Mechanics of Breaking and Exchanging Thrusts”, and “Extrapolation and Improvisation”. In the dedicated Scholar’s class, students were introduced to two new weapons, the arming (one-handed) sword, and the spear. A number of students successfully completed their basic proficiency exams in the arming sword, and several more will be testing in the spear this February, two necessary steps on the path to the Free Scholar rank.

In the Renaissance Swordsmanship track, our weekly “Focus’” class on specific topics, open to all levels, proved to be most popular; topics covered this year included “Building an Aggressive Defense Using the Guards”, “Cuts and Their Counters”, and “Pressing the Attack”.

With a dedicated 90-minute class of their own on Saturday afternoon, advanced students spent the year focusing on advanced tactics in single rapier, including feints and invitations, and exploring Salvatore Fabris’ variations on his basic guards.

On Monday nights we instituted a Bolognese Swordsmanship Study Group. Open to Scholars of either curriculum, Bolognese fencing is the bridge between the late medieval style and the elegant rapier of the 17th century. A vast curriculum containing virtually every weapon of the 16th c arsenal, although Greg has been researching the material for years, this program is in its early stages of being taught as a formal curriculum. Training focused on fencing with the sword alone; looking at not only the basic actions of attack, defense and movement, but the unique pedagogical training tool of the assalti – long solo forms that can then be applied as two-person exercises.

Finally, the highlight of the year for both sub-programs was the spring Prize Playing, featuring an impressive performance by Armizare Novice Erin Fitzgerald, and a commanding display of arms by rapier Novice Robert Rutherfoord and his graduation to Scholar level. Rob is now a rapier instructor-in-training.

THE BARTITSU CLUB OF CHICAGO

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The Bartitsu Club of Chicago is Chicago’s first and only martial arts club to focus on the Victorian-era cross-training system of Bartitsu.  The Club began in January 2012 with a successful  one-day introductory seminar that marked the first “public” use of the Forteza studio.  The seminar was followed by a twelve-lesson basic course over six weeks, culminating with an Antagonisticathlon; an event in which participants represent Victorian-era adventurers running a gauntlet of obstacles and surprise attacks by “ruffians“.

Graduates of the initial course voted to keep training and so Bartitsu joined the roster of regular weekly classes at Forteza, combining the “canonical” unarmed and cane fighting techniques recorded by E.W. Barton-Wright circa 1900 with “neo-Bartitsu” exercises, combat improvisation drills and progressive sparring.  Over the coming months we were prominently featured in several news media items including articles in New City Magazine and an article and video for the Chicago Tribune.  We held the second Antagonisticathlon during July and the second annual Bartitsu School of Arms event in September (see Special Workshops and Events below).

FORTEZA COMBATIVES METHOD

IMG_6625This past year also saw the launch of the Forteza Combatives program.  Forteza instructor and co-owner Keith Jennings is the only fully certified Martial Blade Concepts instructor in IL and the neighboring states.  For years Keith has conducted seminars in Chicago and around the Midwest,  but there has never been an official home for MBC training in Chicago.  The opening of Forteza has changed all that. In the first half of the year, Keith introduced a weekly MBC class, building a small, dedicated cadre of students. But by summer it became clear that students wanted a chance to train more, and to explore other ranges and components of personal protection. Thus was born Forteza Combatives!

The Forteza Combatives Method focusing on the empty hand and counter-knife tactics from MBC, as well as combining elements of bare knuckle boxing, Catch Wrestling/ground survival, and improvised weapons training, making it one of the most well rounded self defense classes in Chicago! The program has been an unqualified success, quickly growing into one of our best-attended martial arts classes – so much so that we’ll be adding training days and special events – including a workshop with MBC creator Mike Janich – in 2013.

SPECIAL WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS

Tired but happy students of the Bastone Fiorata. A school of incredible fluidity, elegance and power - we all fell in love with the Sicilian stick!

In August, Armizare students were given a look at the extensive collection of disarms, pommel strikes and throws that comprise  zogho stretto, or close play, with the sword. Zogho stretto is where the lessons of the sword merge with those of abrazare and dagger, and the entire system is pulled together.

In September, the Bartitsu Club hosted the second annual Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture , a three-day conference and training event.  Highlights included a field trip to the historic Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle, IL (with a special guided tour of the mansion’s unique Victorian-era gymnasium) and a trip to see the play  Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride, which featured Bartitsu-inspired fight scenes.  Then followed two full days of training (including our third Antagonisticathlon) and socializing in the Victorian-themed side room of O’Shaughnessy’s Public House.  The event was a resounding success and now we look forward to a Bartitsu New Year.

A little later that month, the Chicago Swordplay Guild hosted Armizare Academy: A Celebration of the Knightly Arts. Originally held in 2010 to celebrate the six hundredth anniversary of the composition of the massive martial arts text The Flower of Battle (il Fior di Battaglia) by the art’s founder, Fiore dei Liberi, this event, affectionately called “The 600: Prepare for Fiore!”, was such a success with attendees, that we decided to make it a recurring workshop! Since “The 602″ seemed to be missing some flair, the event was been renamed Armizare Academy. This three day retreat featured six instructors from around North America and included both a tournament and a fully-armoured deed of arms!

Finally, in November the studio the privilege of hosting Roberto Laura for an immersion in the world of Italian stick and knife fighting arts. During Roberto’s five day visit, we studied three distinct tradtions. The first was La Scuola Cavalieri d`Umiltà or the Knights of Humility. This school derives from Manfredonia, Apulia (by tradition, from the 15th century). It is a highly elegant fighting system with the knife, shepherd’s staff and the razor. The second tradition was La Scuola Fiorata– The Flowery School, from Calatabiano, Sicily. The weapons taught within this traditional dueling art are the shepherd stick and the knife.  Fiorata is technically a modern school, yet in many ways it is a return to older sensibilities. The school comes from a very old – and still living – tradition called the Scuola Rutatu (Circling School), but after WWII some masters of the system were concerned with the loss of close-fighting techniques and a transition to fast, but smaller, less powerful actions and developed a new school that would counter Rutatu, producing a system which combines the elements of open and closed guards, dynamic assaults. Finally, Roberto introduced us to la Scuola Cielo e Meraviglia (the School of Heaven and Its Marvels) which also comes from Apulia, and is about two-hundred years old. This is a close-quarter fighting system which uses grips, joint locks, throws. As very old traditions these schools use a wide variety of daggers and folding knives, including cloak and dagger techniques and improvised weapons. Roberto made it clear that he is only a student of this tradition, and that he was introducing us to his current understanding of the system a passed to him by his teacher, Maestro Domenico Mancino.  It was an amazing workshop and Forteza will be introducing a stick and knife study group in the new year to continue to study and train in these priceless pieces of Italian culture!

2012: The Year in Physical Fitness

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Forteza, Year One: 2012 in Review

Happy New Year! Not only is it the start of a new year, but we are closing in on the end of our first year together! The concept for Forteza was born from three streams: Chicago Swordplay Guild founder and head instructor Gregory Mele was looking for a way to expand the Guild’s curriculum and training opportunities, and one of the Guild’s senior armizare students, Keith Jennings was looking to open his own personal training and combatives gym. When Tony Wolf offered to let the studio host his growing collection of 19th century exercise apparatus, a brilliant, if madcap idea was born….

To say that it has been a whirlwind of a year would be a gross-understatement. Since opening our doors, we’ve held seven rounds of introductory classes, an Open House, participated in the Ravenswood Art Walk, challenged our students with a Temple Burning work out, ran the Spartan Race, began work on our Clubhouse and introduced three new programs to the Chicagoland area: Bolognese fencing, Bartitsu and our unique Forteza Combatives Method.

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As the “new kids on the block”, we also garnered a fair bit of media coverage. In Crossing Swords: A Revival of Traditional European Martial ArtsNew City journalist Kristen Micek checked out the Chicago Swordplay Guild and then moved a few centuries forward to the 19th century when she covered us in Martial Arts, Victorian Style: Bartitsu at Forteza Fitness Brings Back the Lost Fighting Art of Sherlock HolmesThe Bartitsu Club garnered more attention in: Blast into the Pastand the Chicago Tribune article, Defensive actions: Reviving old-school fighting techniques to win a full-body workout. (You can also catch the accompanying video: Old-school-fitness-becomes-new-trend.)

Forteza’s unique Fighting Fit program was also a big hit with the media, being showcased in the Chicago RedEye: Survival of the Fittest – train like a “Hunger Games” tribute with these offbeat exercises. That cover story caught the attention of WGN’s Jonathon Brandmeier. Jesse Kulla explained FightingFit to Johnny B on this PodCast (starting at 6:50), and was later invited to demonstrate on his TV show.

But probably the best media look at what Forteza was all about came from this light-hearted feature on ABC 7′s 190 North!  

Of course, the media only presents an outside view at a particular moment in time. So as we continue to shake our heads in wonder that a year has passed, here is a 2012 year in review from those who were there…

2012: The Year in Martial Arts

2012: The Year in Physical Fitness

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