About Lancaster Dueling ...

Classical Fencing is where yesterday meets today, and modern sport fencing collides head-on with the duels of old. Classical fencing lies between the worlds of Sport Fencing and Historical Fencing. We utilize the readily available equipment of Modern Fencing and balance it with the "What if they were sharp" mindset of Historical Fencing. We approach this form of swordplay as a martial art and not as a game.

Many people come to modern fencing with dreams of Three Musketeers or Zorro. Soon people realize that modern fencing is far removed from what they have seen or drempt of in these epic tales. Our school not only accepts this notion but encourages and fosters it by looking at these stories, film fights, and historic writings and masters and explores the reality and feasibility of what we think of as real swordsmanship. We are a fencing school that honors the culture, manners, and traditions of the past while not falling into the realms of re-enactment societies.

We are a Smallsword and Sabre School. The Smallsword (and the era that surrounded it) is the birthplace of modern foil and epee. We use the modern French Foil for training purposes and the Smallsword for serious bouting. After a student is firmly rooted in the ways of point work, then we begin to explore the swashbuckling forms of sabre.