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Announcing the Bartitsu Club of Chicago

Posted on December 27, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 19th January 2012

Located in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood, the Bartitsu Club of Chicago offers regular, progressive training in the “lost martial art of Sherlock Holmes”.

History

At the end of the Victorian era, E. W. Barton-Wright combined jiujitsu, kickboxing and stick fighting into the “New Art of Self Defence” known as Bartitsu. Promoted via exhibitions, magazine articles and challenge contests, Barton-Wright’s New Art was offered as a means by which ladies and gentlemen could beat street hooligans and ruffians at their own game.

Thus, the Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture in London became the headquarters of a radical experiment in martial arts and fitness cross-training. It was also a place to see and be seen; famous actors and actresses, soldiers, athletes and aristocrats eagerly enrolled to learn the secrets of Bartitsu.

In early 1902, for reasons that remain a historical mystery, the London Bartitsu Club closed down. Barton-Wright’s art was almost forgotten thereafter, except for a single, cryptic reference in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Empty House, wherein it was revealed as the method by which Sherlock Holmes had defeated Professor Moriarty in their fatal battle at Reichenbach Falls.

Our premise and approach

Bartitsu was abandoned as a work-in-progress one hundred and ten years ago, but what if Barton-Wright’s School of Arms had continued to thrive? In collaboration with other Bartitsu clubs and study groups throughout the world, the Bartitsu Club of Chicago is proud to pick up where he left off, reviving and continuing the experiment into the new millennium.

E.W. Barton-Wright recorded the basics of his “New Art” via lectures, interviews and detailed articles, which form the nucleus of “canonical Bartitsu”. These methods are practiced as a form of living history preservation and also as a common technical and tactical “language” among modern practitioners.

“Neo-Bartitsu” complements and augments the canon towards an evolving, creative revival as a system of recreational martial arts cross-training with a 19th century “twist”.

Our venue

Forteza Fitness, Physical Culture and Martial Arts (4437 North Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL 60640) is the ideal venue for reviving Bartitsu. Directly inspired by Barton-Wright’s School of Arms, Forteza features a unique late-19th century theme; brick walls and a high timber ceiling enclosing 5000 square feet of training space, including a “gymuseum” of functional antique exercise apparatus.

Our classes

Bartitsu classes at Forteza run from 6.30-8.00 pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The price for the six-week introductory course (two classes per week) is $125.00.

A typical class includes calisthenic warm-ups, specialized movement drills, study of the canonical sequences and neo-Bartitsu “combat improvisation” training. Participants should wear comfortable exercise clothing and bring a change of shoes for the class.

Contact info@fortezafitness.com to book your place in the first ongoing Bartitsu course in Chicago.

Our instructor

New Zealand citizen and Chicago resident Tony Wolf is one of the founders of the international Bartitsu Society. A highly experienced martial arts instructor, he 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).

Posted in Canonical Bartitsu, Seminars | Comments Off

Bartitsu seminar with Tony Wolf at Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts (Chicago)

Posted on December 27, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 23rd January 2012

A short “video impression” of the June 22nd Bartitsu seminar at the new (and still under development) Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts studio in Ravenswood, Chicago.

Instructor Tony Wolf led a group of about thirty eager participants through a combination of canonical and neo-Bartitsu drills, concentrating on blending fisticuffs, jujitsu and walking stick defense according to E.W. Barton-Wright’s precept of adaptability:

It is quite unnecessary to try and get your opponent into any particular position, as this system embraces every possible eventuality and your defence and counter-attack must be based entirely upon the actions of your opponent.

Also visible in the clip above are some items from the Forteza “gymuseum”, including original late-19th century posters, antique cast-iron dumbbells, wooden Indian clubs and an 1880s rowing machine.

The new Bartitsu Club of Chicago will be holding its first six-week term at Forteza, beginning January 31st.

Posted in Seminars, Video | Comments Off

Bartitsu at CombatCon 2012

Posted on December 27, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 25th January 2012

Bartitsu instructor Tony Wolf (left) will be teaching an introductory class among the many attractions of CombatCon 2012 at the Tuscany Suites hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada (July 6-8).

A confluence of Western martial arts with pop-culture entertainment genres (horror, pirates, science fiction, steampunk etc.), CombatCon offers a very wide assortment of hands-on classes, demonstrations, panel discussions and vendor’s booths. 19th century antagonistics were well-represented at last years’ convention, which also included a large “museum” room devoted to steampunk artifacts … who knows what else CombatCon 2012 has in store?

Posted in Canonical Bartitsu, Seminars | Comments Off

Upcoming Bartitsu Seminars with Mark P. Donnelly

Posted on December 27, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 26th January 2012

Bartitsu instructor Mark Donnelly will be teaching an intensive seminar for the Bartitsu Club of New York City on Sunday, March 11, 2012. See this page for all details.

Professor Donnelly will also be teaching a series of workshops at the Steampunk World’s Fair in Piscataway, New Jersey between May 18th and 20th.

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“A sphere of deadliness” – More Stickfighting Action from Hammett’s “Nightmare Town”

Posted on December 27, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 27th January 2012

Our second and final excerpt from Dashiell Hammett’s 1924 pulp classic, “Nightmare Town”, featuring hard-bitten adventurer Steve Threefall and his trademark weapon – an ebony fighting cane.

Men filled the doorway. An invisible gun roared and a piece of the ceiling flaked down. Steve spun his stick and charged the door. The light from the lamp behind him glittered and glowed on the whirling wood. The stick whipped backward and forward, from left to right, from right to left. It writhed like a live thing — seemed to fold upon its grasped middle as if spring-hinged with steel. Flashing half-circles merged into a sphere of deadliness. The rhythm of incessant thudding against flesh and clicking on bone became a tune that sang through the grunts of fighting men, the groans and oaths of stricken men. Steve and the girl went through the door.

Between moving arms and legs and bodies the cream of the Vauxhall showed. Men stood upon the automobile, using its height for vantage in the fight. Steve threw himself forward, swinging his stick against shin and thigh, toppling men from the machine. With his left hand he swept the girl around to his side. His body shook and rocked under the weight of blows from men who were packed too closely for any effectiveness except the smothering power of sheer weight.

His stick was suddenly gone from him. One instant he held and spun it; the next, he was holding up a clenched fist that was empty — the ebony had vanished as if in a puff of smoke. He swung the girl up over the car door, hammered her down into the car — jammed her down upon the legs of a man who stood there — heard a bone break, and saw the man go down. Hands gripped him everywhere; hands pounded him. He cried aloud with joy when he saw the girl, huddled on the floor of the car, working with ridiculously small hands at the car’s mechanism.

The machine began to move. Holding with his hands, he lashed both feet out behind. Got them back on the step. Struck over the girl’s head with a hand that had neither thought nor time to make a fist — struck stiff-fingered into a broad red face.

The car moved. One of the girl’s hands came up to grasp the wheel, holding the car straight along a street she could not see. A man fell on her. Steve pulled him off — tore pieces from him — tore hair and flesh. The car swerved, scraped a building; scraped one side clear of men. The hands that held Steve fell away from him, taking most of his clothing with them. He picked a man off the back of the seat, and pushed him down into the street that was flowing past them. Then he fell into the car beside the girl.

Pistols exploded behind them. From a house a little ahead a bitter-voiced rifle emptied itself at them, sieving a mudguard. Then the desert — white and smooth as a gigantic hospital bed — was around them. Whatever pursuit there had been was left far behind.

Presently the girl slowed down, stopped.

“Are you all right?” Steve asked.

“Yes; but you’re — ”

“All in one piece,” he assured her. “Let me take the wheel.”

“No! No!” she protested. “You’re bleeding. You’re — ”

“No! No!” he mocked her. “We’d better keep going until we hit something. We’re not far enough from Izzard yet to call ourselves safe.”

He was afraid that if she tried to patch him up he would fall apart in her hands. He felt like that.

She started the car, and they went on. A great sleepiness came to him. What a fight! What a fight!

Posted in Antagonistics, Fiction | Comments Off

“The Kangaroo as Prize Fighter” (1893)

Posted on December 27, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 15th February 2012

Among the recent developments in the world of sports, in Australia, is the training of the kangaroo to stand up and spar or box with a human antagonist. We give an illustration which we find in a recent number of Black and White. An exhibition of this curious kind of combat now takes place regularly at the Royal Aquarium, London, and it attracts many spectators.

The way in which the natural kangaroo spars in the bush, his birthplace, is peculiar. He places his front paws gently — almost lovingly — upon the shoulders of his antagonist, and then proceeds to disembowel him with a sudden and energetic movement of one of his hind feet. From this ingenious method of practicing the noble art of self-defense the kangaroo at the Royal Aquarium has been weaned. The clever instructor of this ingenious marsupial has trained it to conduct a contest under the conditions known as the Marquis of Queensberry’s rules. It cannot be said that it adheres to these regulations quite so rigidly as the combatants who pummel one another at the National Sporting Club are required to do. On the contrary, it cannot wholly disabuse itself of the idea, favored by the French, though discountenanced by the English, that those who are attacked have as good a right to defend themselves with their feet as with their fists. It affects la savate In preference to la boxe, a predilection which, considering the force with which a kangaroo can kick, might quite conceivably cause an injury to his antagonist. However, no harm has as yet been done, and the encounter between human and marsupial is spirited and novel, and admirably illustrates the power of man to bend the brute creation to his will.

A writer in a recent number of the Overland Monthly advocates the importation and domestication of the kangaroo in this country. He gives authorities showing the feasibility of the project, and believes the animal could be introduced and raised here with profit. The flesh of the kangaroo is highly esteemed as a food, and from the hides a valuable leather is made. These are legitimate uses of the animal. But it is shocking to think of degrading so useful a creature down to the level and equal of a brutal human prize fighter.

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Bartitsu seminar in Veldhoven, Holland

Posted on December 27, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 18th February 2012

Announcing a seminar in Bartitsu, a mixed martial art system created the late 19th century, which combined French boxing with the Vigny system of stick fighting, English bareknuckle boxing and jiu jitsu.

Knowledge of other martial arts is a plus but is not necessary. Given the nature of some of the techniques taught during the workshop, the minimum age for participants is 12 years (only with the consent of parents/guardians). Please wear clothes that allow freedom of movement. Only gym shoes are permitted in the gym.

Date: March 25, 2012
Instructor: J.Jozen
Register via: johjoz@yahoo.com
Time: 13.00 t/m17.00
Address: Messermaker 4 Gymnasium, Veldhoven
Cost: 10 Euro

Posted in Canonical Bartitsu, Seminars | Comments Off

“Ancient Swordplay: the Revival of Elizabethan Fencing in Victorian London”

Posted on December 27, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 22nd February 2012

During the final decades of the 19th century, a cabal of fencers and historians led by Captain Alfred Hutton and his colleague, the writer Egerton Castle, undertook a systematic study and practical revival of combat with long-outmoded weapons such as the rapier and dagger, sword and buckler and two-handed sword. Their efforts presaged the current revival of historical fencing, a rapidly growing movement that directly parallels the modern renaissance of E.W. Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu.

The book Ancient Swordplay details the origins, colourful heyday and ultimate decline of this unusual late-Victorian revival movement. Highlights include reports on many historical fencing exhibitions throughout the 1880s and ’90s, Hutton’s and Castle’s work as theatrical fight choreographers (who paid strict attention to historical accuracy) and Hutton’s determined efforts to revolutionise military sabre fencing with an infusion of “ancient swordplay”, especially that of the Elizabethan English master, George Silver.

Of particular interest to Bartitsu enthusiasts, Ancient Swordplay includes a chapter on Captain Hutton’s collaborations with E.W. Barton-Wright. In his book The Sword and the Centuries (1902), Hutton was moved to note that “the fence of the case of rapiers, as of all the other Elizabethan weapons, is much in vogue at the present time at the Bartitsu Club, now the headquarters of ancient swordplay in this country.”

For all their efforts, though, the Hutton/Castle revival did not directly survive their own generation. The final chapters examine the reasons why, coming to a conclusion that may surprise modern readers, and attempt to trace their legacy into the following decades of the 20th century.

Including numerous rare illustrations and a foreword by author Neal Stephenson, Ancient Swordplay is available now from the Freelance Academy Press website. For a thorough historical context and commentary, please also see the new article Renaissance Swordplay, Victorian-style on the Freelancer blog.