Cassius Nelson, CMU HEMA Head Coach is offering a lesson on Spanish Destreza here at Hilt and Helm!

Buy your tickets here. Only 16 slots available so buy them before they run out!

The footwork and stance of Spanish Destreza is core to what separates the system from Italian fencing and Thibault’s system which is often attributed to be a form of Destreza. It is important to nail down the specifics of the footwork system early in order to properly build any of the rest of the system into the passive memory of new diestros. Destreza adopts an upright stance with alternating weight distribution to allow for rotational movement rather than translational (as the Italians). We are able to adopt this stance as we are entirely throwing out the concept of the lunge, as Destreza maestros deemed it a risk not worth taking. De La Vega writes that it does not matter how fast an Italian is if he must move 3 feet while the diestro must move three fingerwidths, referring to the effectiveness of rotational movement in disadvantaging long range translational movements, such as the lunge. A proper diestro prefers to close measure by controlling the direct/center line, stepping into binds, and straightening the arm in attack only when they have the atajo (commonly translated as shortcut).

In this lesson, we will endeavor to describe and practice the stance of “noble” Destreza and the footwork which provides its safety and advantage (when applied properly) over translational rapier systems.