Academia della Spada and Salle Saint-George are pleased to host the fourth Western Washington WMA Workshop (4W). We extend a friendly invitation to all students and scholars of western martial arts, eastern martial arts, and modern fencing to join us in Seattle, WA for another three day intensive workshop on the historical and classical martial arts of Europe. 4W 2010 will continue to offer the highest level of dedicated instruction from acknowledged professionals in their field.

This year, 4W also offers classes designed for stage combatants who would like to bring more realism to their stage and screen fight scenes.

What are Western Martial Arts?

WMA encompasses a wide range of specific martial arts beginning with those first developed in Medieval Europe and spans over 700 hundred years to include the classical weapon systems of the 19th Century, still taught by a few traditional fencing masters today. Students of western martial arts attempt, through study of Medieval, Renaissance and Classical sources, to understand the systems of unarmed, armed, and armored combat developed in Europe and the Americas. Examples of western martial arts forms range from Medieval armored poleax to 17th Century rapier, to the bareknuckle boxing of the 19th century and classical dueling weapons.