In addition to all of the tournaments running over the weekend, we’ve also invited some amazing instructors that will be teaching classes and workshops!
Instructors
Marlene Hurst (She/Her & They/Them)
Instructor Bio:
Marlene began her HEMA practice in 2016 with Capital Kunst des Fechtens (CKDF). She is Committee Chair of the CKDF Council, an instructor for Longsword and Ringen. She has guest lectured at DanceFight 2022, Fecht Yeah 2019, and participated in Esfinges' Instructor Symposium in 2020. She is a decorated practitioner having won Gold for Paired Technique with Charles Lin at Everything Else Event in 2019, Champion Overall in the U175 weight class for the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Historical Wrestling League, and took Gold in Women's Longsword at Capitol Clash in 2020. Marlene is a respected HEMA judge, and is one of only a handful of women to referee Ringen having done so at Longpoint in 2019.
Class Topic: Body Fluency Through Movement
Everyone has a level of body fluency. My goal with the "Body Fluency Through Movement'' class is to build / expand participant fluency through exploratory movements. Participants will discover how our body's various muscle groups work together to achieve even the simplest movements. Participants are encouraged to wear clothing they are comfortable moving in, additional kit is not required.
Mariana Lopez (She/Her)
Instructor Bio:
Mariana Lopez is a founder and head coach of the Metropolitan Historical Fencing Academy (MHFA) and has 15 years of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) experience. A highly accomplished competitor with various gold medals amongst a number of weapons she’s also a tournament organizer and referee in both North America and Europe, and a former member of the Mexican National HEMA Championships committee. Having a strong passion for art she has also partaken in a multitude of art projects related to HEMA, creating reproductions, illustrations for books, fencing manuals restoration, and other visual resources. As an International Relations major Mariana founded Esfinges, an international organization with thousands of members dedicated to the support and promotion of woman’s participation in HEMA.
David Rowe (He/Him)
Instructor Bio:
David Rowe is a founder and head instructor at the Metropolitan Historical Fencing Academy and has more than 20 years of fencing, competing, refereeing, event organization, and coaching experience and is a decorated national and international competitor in a variety of weapons and disciplines. David studied at Catholic University researching the transcription, translation, and interpretation of medieval manuscripts is a producer of the Into the HEMAverse podcast, and organizer and tournament director for the Capitol Clash and King's Cup Tournament & Workshops.
David teaches Bolognese Swordsmanship, Liechtenauer tradition, German Ringen (Wrestling), 17th century Italian rapier, and French Smallsword and Saber, and his favorite topic is fencing theory, tactics, and sport psychology.
Outside of HEMA David enjoys playing guitar, making music, and spending time with his pugs.
Veronica Young (She/Her)
Instructor Bio:
Veronica Young's main focuses in HEMA have been threefold: Competing, fostering a better environment for under-represented genders in HEMA, and teaching.
Veronica serves as one of the Assistant Instructors at the Atlanta Historical Fencing Academy (AHFA) in Atlanta, GA. She also founded and leads the resource group called 'Arc' at AHFA, for underrepresented genders to promote good club culture and to provide a focused training environment. She most recently won the Gold medal in Women’s Longsword at SERFO 2022 and placed 23rd overall in Open Longsword at SERFO 2022.
Class Topic: How to Meyer Quarterstaff
This class will be an introductory lesson into Joachim Meyer’s Quarterstaff from his manual, “The Art of Combat” (1570.) You’ll learn the basics of the weapon as well as some of the plays from staff as well. Staves will be provided!
