Historical Longsword with Jess Finley
MELBOURNE: Thursday 20th and Friday 21st March 2025, 10am – 6pm
Work with one of the world’s best Historical Longsword practitioners, JESS FINLEY, in an exciting two-day workshop. Learn German Medieval Martial Arts merged with stage and screen fighting techniques – in collaboration with leading Fight Director, Lyndall Grant.
WHAT IS IT?
We are thrilled to have world-renowned swordswoman, wrestler and author Jess Finley joining us for a dive into historical longsword techniques and how they apply to dramatic combat.
This workshop has been created to bridge gaps between fighting ‘real fights’ and performing ’empty choreography’ with a longsword. Why? A key part of fight performance (or any performance) is understanding what the characters are trying to do and what is happening to them – having clear intentions and reactions to sell a detailed and dynamic fight story. However without experiencing this action ourselves, sometimes portraying the ‘reality’ of the fight can be lost.
In this unique workshop, Jess Finley will guide you through the foundations of medieval German Longsword and wrestling techniques – the forms, the strategies, the responses and how a ‘real’ engagement would actually feel. We will then directly translate these discoveries into safe choreography with fight directors Lyndall Grant and Josh Bell – allowing you to draw on your experiences for clear, textured and truthful performance in a fight scene.
By the end of the workshop, you will have gained a working insight into historical martial technique – influencing how you hold a sword, move and interact with your partner, and giving you a solid base for your best performance. And, well, it’s just going to be SUPER FUN learning from a badass like Jess.
WHEN IS IT?
Thursday 20th and Friday 21st March 2025
10:00am to 6:00pm
WHERE IS IT?
Dancehouse Carlton, Upstairs Studio
150 Princes St, Carlton North, 3054
WHO IS IT FOR?
This course is designed for students who already have weapons training in stage and screen combat or HEMA.
Please get in touch if you are unsure whether you are ready for the course this time around. If you would like beginners training, look up our Drop-in Classes and the Fight the Good Fight Stage Combat Intensive. We will also be setting up our next SAFDi Fundamentals/BADC Certification Course in early 2025.
Captivate fiercely supports diverse, equitable and safe work- and learning-spaces. If you have any concerns or questions please get in touch with us.
HOW MUCH IS IT?
EARLY BIRD: $415 (+GST) Register and finalise payment by 15th January 2025.
CCONCESSION: $435 (+GST)
STANDARD: $475 (+GST)
A deposit of at least 50% of your course fee is required on registration. Places are confirmed only on completion of full payment, which we kindly ask to be completed by 1st March 2025. Please note we are unable to hold places without a deposit, and any payments made are not refundable.
We accept online transfer (no additional fee) for this course – an invoice will be sent to you on registration.
HOW DO I JOIN IN?
Bookings are now open. Spots are very competitive as we have strict capacity limits and our courses sell out quickly, so register early to save your spot (and to get the Early Bird price!). Just fill out the online registration form once bookings open, and we will reply with your registration confirmation. A minimum 50% deposit is required to complete the registration.
Make sure you get a text box confirmation that your registration form has gone through as soon as you SUBMIT. If you do not hear from us within 48 hours, check your junk mail, and then send us an email.
About your tutors:
JESS FINLEY (she/her): Swordswoman, Wrestler, Author.
Jess Finley has been studying the martial arts of medieval Germany for more than twenty years.
Currently the head instructor at Ritterkunst Turnhalle in Lawrence, Kansas, she began training Medieval Swordsmanship under Christian Tobler of Selohaar Fechtschule in February of 2003, and has achieved the rank of provost.
While Jess has experience teaching every weapon in the medieval German arsenal, she is perhaps best known for her knowledge of unarmed combat through her study of medieval German wrestling. She has published a book on the fifteenth century German Master Ott’s wrestling treatise under the title “Medieval Wrestling,” and also has a background studying Judo under the tutelage of Arden Cowherd of Topeka Judo Club.
Jess has taught and competed internationally at events like the Western Martial Arts Workshop in Chicago, USA; Paddy Crean International Workshop in Banff, Canada; Swordfish in Gothenburg, Sweden; and Longpoint in Baltimore, USA and has taught intensives at various events and schools, as well as weekend private intensives at her home.
In addition to her scholarly work on medieval martial arts, Jess also researches medieval clothing construction and fabric armor, and has presented her findings at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, and has published an article in Medieval Clothing and Textiles (Boydell and Brewer) on her study of a 15th century quilted armor.
LYNDALL GRANT (she/her): Fight Director
LYNDALL GRANT (she/her) is a Fight Director, Movement Director, actor and Motion Capture Specialist who works in Australia and Internationally for stage and screen. She is a senior teacher and Management Committee member for the Society of Australian Fight Directors, and certified Dramatic Combat teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat. Lyndall currently teaches stage combat at the Victorian College of the Arts, 16th Street Actors Studio and National Theatre Drama School.
Lyndall trained as an actor as London’s ArtsEd School of Acting, before specialising in fight performance and physical performance. She began working as a fight director in London in 2010. In 2013 Lyndall established Captivate Action Ltd. in the U.K., as the first company to specialise in training and performance in action and Motion Capture, and brought this company home to Australia in 2016. Lyndall was an actor and movement captain in Melbourne’s production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from 2018 to 2022
Recent fight/movement credits include Oscar (The Australian Ballet); Rusalka (West Australian Opera); The Picture of Dorian Gray (Michael Cassel Group); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Sunset Boulevard, Groundhog Day The Musical, Death of A Salesman, An American in Paris, 2:22 A Ghost Story (GWB); Beauty and the Beast (Disney Australia); Emu in the Sun, Cost of Living, Topdog/Underdog, The Almighty Sometimes, 37, My Sister Jill, A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, Is God Is, Sunday, As You Like It, Berlin, The Lifespan of a Fact, The Architect, Cosi, Torch the Place, The Lady in the Van, Astroman, Lillith the Jungle Girl, Straight White Men, Melbourne Talam, Macbeth, Hungry Ghosts (Melbourne Theatre Company); Cruel Intentions the Musical (David Venn Enterprises); Nosferatu, Looking for Alibrandi, Atlantis, The Return, Because the Night and Cloudstreet (Malthouse Theatre); 37 (Queensland Theatre Company); Sunday, Is God Is, Lord of the Flies, Cosi (Sydney Theatre Company), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, Blackout Songs, The Way Things Are (Red Stitch); Il Viaggio A Reims (Opera Australia); Things I Know to Be True (Theatre Works); Milked, True West, Two Remain, Punk Rock (45 Downstairs), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Royal Haymarket, U.K.), Alice in Winterland, The Wind in the Willows, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe (Rose Theatre Kingston, U.K.), Henry IV Part 1 (St. James Theatre, U.K.).
Got questions? Get in touch
