Re: [Middlebridge] event/demo

On Sat, 10 Jun 1995 BRgarwood@aol.com wrote:
 
> This brings up a point I'd like discussed by fighters, demo-crats, and the
> general populace. My idea of fighting at at demo is to give thr crowd a good
> show. Get in there with lots of noise and action, and don't die too soon.
> Some fighter's I've mentioned this to say "But that wouldn't be showing what
> we do" and fight as if at a tourney, waiting for openings, and takng
> whatever sounds good. (walk around, stare at each other, throw a couple
> feints, and BANG you're dead). We have a demo coming up at an arts in the
> pak festival in a couple weeks. What is the general feeling on both sides of
> this?
>
> Berwyn
 
And then greg_young@mbnet.mb.ca replied:
> In a couple of demos that we have done most recently here in Castel
> Rouge, it was decided to actually run a small single elimination tourney
> to show the spectators what our "sport" is really like. After that we
> did a little bit of melee fighting.
 
In Flaming Gryphon, we do it a little differently, going out for the first
few bouts and hamming it up ( lots of shield banging, and flashy swordplay)
and describing the difference between what we do and what you see in the
movies ( I particularly like the 'Conan the Barbarian' demo where one
fighter with a bastard sword stands against 5 or 6 other fighters - first
he easily beats them, just like in the movies, and then they pretty much
go in and mow him down, just like a real melee ). Then we show them the
equipment, good blows, and points of honor. Then we do some actual touney
fighting ( with extra schtick added for flavor ). That way, they get the
show, and still understand what exactly we're doing out there. It seems to
be very enjoyable for them.
 
greg_young@mbnet.mb.ca then posts:
> One thing that we did to give the kids something neat to do, (my lord
> Berwyn should remember this) was let them pick up a sword and take a
> couple of swings at a fighter on his knees.
 
I'm not sure, but I think that some time ago ( within the last two years )
Kingdom sent out the word that we were'nt allowed to let the "mundane" demo-
goers use our equipment - specifically, put on the armor ( at all ) or swing
the swords at anyone. There was an incident at a demo where a child was
injured and a potential lawsuit evolved. You might want to look into this
before doing the 'Whack-A-Fighter' portion of your demo.
 
Thanks for listening,
-Conor
 
 
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From: Conor Mac Lellan <al885@dayton.wright.edu>
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Received on Sun Jun 11 10:02:36 1995