Wolf System stage combat training
Encyclopedia
The Wolf System was founded in 1988 by fight choreographer and stage combat
/martial arts
instructor Tony Wolf. It has been applied to a range of production genres including professional theatre
, opera
, ballet
, film
, television
and motion capture
, notably including the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, as well as to physical theater, martial arts and self defense training.
, historical fencing, mime
and various martial arts
styles. Over time, and due in part to the pedagogical influence of the modern dance
discipline of contact improvisation
and of the Russian martial art of Ryabko Systema
, the Wolf system's emphasis shifted from a curriculum of specific techniques to an open-ended progression of largely improvised training game
s and exercises
.
The system was first introduced to the international community at the Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Conferences
held at the Banff Centre
in Alberta
, Canada
, in 1998. Since that time, aspects of the system have been taught to actor
s, directors, martial artists, dancers, choreographers and stunt
performers throughout New Zealand
, Australia
, Canada
and the U.S.
, as well as at master-class seminars in England
, Ireland
, Norway
, Holland, Italy
and Germany
.
and/or performance
skills.
The skills are divided into the following categories:
Synergy - non-verbal, especially tactile responsiveness and communication
Articulation - cycles of preparation, action and reaction in performing stage combat techniques, both for the safety of the performers and for clarity of live or on-camera performance
Illusion - methods of misdirection and of concealing certain safety measures from the audience or camera to preserve the illusion
of actual combat
Alignment - methods of skeletal alignment supported by muscular control as used in maintaining balance and in supporting another person's body weight
Extension - methods of projecting momentum
Cascade - methods of safely moving from a standing position to the floor by collapsing or rolling
Measure - methods of judging the active distance between oneself and another person
Of the above list, both Articulation and Illusion are specific to the use of the Wolf System in stage combat training. The two fundamental premises of the Wolf System in stage combat are defined as Safety and Storytelling, both with reference to performance combat as a skill of theatrical illusion.
Participants in this form of training constantly alternate between co-operating and competing with their partner(s) during different exercises. Co-operative games require the participants to work together to achieve a specific result, such as balancing against each other's bodies while in physically awkward positions or keeping their hands in contact while performing various improvised movement exercises. Competitive games require the participants to work against each other, as in contests of balance and speed.
Participants also alternate between moving "in character" and as themselves, between improvised and choreographed exercises and between assuming active and passive roles during the various exercises.
To perform Wolf System exercises with a partner or in a group environment is known as jamming
, a term borrowed from contact improvisation and from jazz
.
The Wolf System can be used to introduce combative concepts and skills to students who may not have any previous background in fencing, martial arts or related disciplines. Also, the open-ended nature of the exercises allow participants to experiment with a wide range of unusual fighting techniques and styles, including many that are not typically offered in more orthodox stage combat or martial arts training programs.
Stage combat
Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other...
/martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
instructor Tony Wolf. It has been applied to a range of production genres including professional theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
, notably including the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, as well as to physical theater, martial arts and self defense training.
History
The Wolf System (under the name "Re:Action") was originally a collection of techniques adapted from professional wrestlingProfessional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
, historical fencing, mime
Mime
The word mime is used to refer to a mime artist who uses a theatrical medium or performance art involving the acting out of a story through body motions without use of speech.Mime may also refer to:* Mime, an alternative word for lip sync...
and various martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
styles. Over time, and due in part to the pedagogical influence of the modern dance
Modern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
discipline of contact improvisation
Contact improvisation
Contact improvisation is a dance technique in which points of physical contact provide the starting point for exploration through movement improvisation...
and of the Russian martial art of Ryabko Systema
Systema
Systema is a Russian martial art. Training includes: hand to hand combat, grappling, knife fighting and fire arms training as well. Training involves drills and sparring without set kata. It focuses mainly on controlling the six body levers through pressure point application, striking and weapon...
, the Wolf system's emphasis shifted from a curriculum of specific techniques to an open-ended progression of largely improvised training game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
s and exercises
Exercises
- 30th Anniversary Bonus Tracks:-Band members:*Dan McCafferty - vocals*Darrell Sweet - drums, backing vocals*Pete Agnew - bass guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals*Manny Charlton - guitar, 12-string guitar, backing vocals-Additional musicians:...
.
The system was first introduced to the international community at the Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Conferences
Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Conferences
The Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Conferences are international symposia at which prominent stage combat and martial arts instructors as well as theatre, film, and television fight directors gather to teach seminars on a wide range of subjects related to their professional interests.-...
held at the Banff Centre
Banff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, in 1998. Since that time, aspects of the system have been taught to actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, directors, martial artists, dancers, choreographers and stunt
Stunt
A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat, or any act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes in TV, theatre, or cinema...
performers throughout New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as well as at master-class seminars in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Holland, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Philosophy and pedagogy
The Wolf System is designed to teach a series of fundamental movementMotion (physics)
In physics, motion is a change in position of an object with respect to time. Change in action is the result of an unbalanced force. Motion is typically described in terms of velocity, acceleration, displacement and time . An object's velocity cannot change unless it is acted upon by a force, as...
and/or performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
skills.
The skills are divided into the following categories:
Synergy - non-verbal, especially tactile responsiveness and communication
Articulation - cycles of preparation, action and reaction in performing stage combat techniques, both for the safety of the performers and for clarity of live or on-camera performance
Illusion - methods of misdirection and of concealing certain safety measures from the audience or camera to preserve the illusion
Illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....
of actual combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
Alignment - methods of skeletal alignment supported by muscular control as used in maintaining balance and in supporting another person's body weight
Extension - methods of projecting momentum
Cascade - methods of safely moving from a standing position to the floor by collapsing or rolling
Measure - methods of judging the active distance between oneself and another person
Of the above list, both Articulation and Illusion are specific to the use of the Wolf System in stage combat training. The two fundamental premises of the Wolf System in stage combat are defined as Safety and Storytelling, both with reference to performance combat as a skill of theatrical illusion.
Wolf System exercises
Some of the games and exercises may be performed individually while others may be performed in pairs or by groups of up to twenty people.Participants in this form of training constantly alternate between co-operating and competing with their partner(s) during different exercises. Co-operative games require the participants to work together to achieve a specific result, such as balancing against each other's bodies while in physically awkward positions or keeping their hands in contact while performing various improvised movement exercises. Competitive games require the participants to work against each other, as in contests of balance and speed.
Participants also alternate between moving "in character" and as themselves, between improvised and choreographed exercises and between assuming active and passive roles during the various exercises.
To perform Wolf System exercises with a partner or in a group environment is known as jamming
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
, a term borrowed from contact improvisation and from jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
.
The Wolf System can be used to introduce combative concepts and skills to students who may not have any previous background in fencing, martial arts or related disciplines. Also, the open-ended nature of the exercises allow participants to experiment with a wide range of unusual fighting techniques and styles, including many that are not typically offered in more orthodox stage combat or martial arts training programs.