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Permalink Reply by Bearclaw Manufacturing - Tedward on February 5, 2012 at 11:56am

That would be anna maltese, and those are fairly common martial arts sabers.

Learning the sword is a bit of a trick.  Most martial arts forms are entirely useless for performance.  The martial arts that were developed for competitions, like Wushu, tend to be the exceptions.  They're often more open and flowery in their moves.

I started with a form that heavily stressed combat.  Most of what I learned for that form went right out the window. Only the stuff I used to limber up was directly useful. most of what I knew I had to suppress because it could get me hurt or just didn't look good.

For practice, you can cheap out and get a 3' dowel from a hardware store.  Something about 1" diameter should do it.  that'll cost you maybe $5, or you can cut down an old broomstick.  Then put some kind of grip on one end.  Voila. [optional: decorate with medical gauze for UV, or aluminum tape for a metallic look.  Heck throw some hoop stuff at it]

There's tons of martial videos online, but for performance, I recommend movies.  Not the serious martial stuff like Bruce lee, but silly campy stuff like the first Batman movie series.  

Start with circles:  

1) Forward figure 8 where the tip of the sword starts upwards, swings out, down then back up.

2) Reverse.  figure 8 where the tip of the sword swings back towards you, down then out and up.

3) Inverted.  Hold the blade so that it's coming out the other side of your hand, pointing downwards when you're arm is extended giving a "thumbs up".

3) Invert reverse Very hard to do for most people, like two upwards stabbing motions.

Transfer

1) learn all four circles with both hands

2) learn to transfer smoothly from one hand to the other in all four patterns {to all four other patterns}

Dance

Your video camera can be your best friend.  Dance with the sword (literally... like a wounded lover, or as an extension of your hand, etc).  Film it.  See what works and what doesn't.  Do more of the stuff that works.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Smith on February 5, 2012 at 12:37pm

Do you have a link to one of those swords. Are the swords in that video sharp or blunt?...I would prefer something blunt. The movements seem very similar to poi and staff.

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Permalink Reply by Bearclaw Manufacturing - Tedward on February 5, 2012 at 3:52pm

Umm technically "blunt" but most of them are thin sheet metal so they can't get any more blunt than a butter knife.  Most are a bit sharper even without having an edge applied.  Swung with force, they'll still do significant cutting damage.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Smith on February 5, 2012 at 8:37pm

Ok thanks. I did some looking around using the information you gave me and I found a few websites that sell them. Thank you very much :)

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Permalink Reply by Bearclaw Manufacturing - Tedward on February 6, 2012 at 4:11am

You're looking for "spring steel" or "competition ready" swords.

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Permalink Reply by Bearclaw Manufacturing - Tedward on February 5, 2012 at 11:56am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrihIoD5VmU

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