Stage Combat Teaching CV

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SAFD Certified Teacher

 

9 years Teaching Stage Combat in Academia and Conservatories

19 years Teaching Experience

16 years as a Professional Fight Director, Fight Choreographer and Combatant

Over 25 years as a Martial Arts Practitioner

 

Education:

MFA Acting, Brooklyn College (2008)

BA Education, St. Joseph's College (1997)

SAFD Advanced Actor Combatant since 2011

SAFD Actor Combatant since 2009

 

Certifications and Memberships:

NY State Board of Education Teaching Certification

NYC Board of Education Teaching Certification

CPR/AED/First Aid Certification ('15)

         -Michael Johnson: For the Stage Combat Professional

ISSA Elite Certified Personal Trainer

ISSA Performance Nutrition Certification

ISSA Fitness Therapy Certification

NESTA MMA Strength and Conditioning Coach Certification

AFV Group Aerobics Instructor (Kickboxing/Step) Certification

Dragon Society Member

HEMA Member

 

Stage Combat Teaching Experience:

 

2009-Present

Brooklyn College BFA Acting Program

• Stage Combat for the Actor/The Art of Physical Narrative

• Combative Acting (Spring 2009)

• Intro: Unarmed and Single Sword (Fall '09 & '10)

• Night at the Fights ('Stage Combat for the Actor' Class Showcase / Fundraiser for 3rd Year BFA Showcase)

 

2013-Present

Brooklyn College Fight Team

• SAFD SPT Workshop

 

2011-2013

Tom Todoroff Acting Conservatory

• Stage Combat for the Actor

 

2014-Present

Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts

• Substitute Teacher

  • Unarmed

  • Single Sword

  • Rapier/Dagger

  • Quarterstaff

  • Broadsword

• Elective Classes

  • Working with a Fight Director

  • Battle Night

 

2008-2009

Acting Out! Brooklyn's Premier Acting School

• Stage Combat

• Swashbuckling

 

Additional Teaching Experience:

 

2015

Brooklyn College

     Stage Movement and the Art of Physical Storytelling

 

2008

Acting Out! Brooklyn's Premier Acting School

• Intro to Acting

• Advanced Acting

• Improvisation

• Audition Technique

• Substitute Instructor

 

1998-2004

St. Simon and Jude School

• Tae Kwon Do Class Instructor

 

1999-2002

NY State Board of Education

     Classroom Teacher:

          1999: Permanent Sub

               Class Coverage:

                    Grades 1-4

                    Special Ed Grades 1 and 4

                    Music

                    Art

          2000: Classroom Teacher 1st Grade 

          2001: Classroom Teacher 3rd Grade

          2002: Classroom Teacher 1st Grade (Special Ed)

 

1997-1999

NY State Board of Education

• Substitute Teacher: Grades 1-8, Music, Art

 

1997-1999

NYC Board of Education

• Substitute Teacher: Grades 1-4, Music, Art

 

Stage Combat Workshop Teaching Experience:

 

2014

NYU Alumni Lecture Series: Meron Langster

• The Art of Physical Narrative vs. The Truth of Physical Violence

 

2014-2015

Camp Broadway

• Intro: Stage Combat

 

Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts:Teen Drama Day Camp

• Intro: Stage Combat

 

2010-2013

Tom Todoroff Conservatory Summer Intensive

• Contemporary Stage Violence

• Stage Combat 101

 

2007, 2009, 2011

St. Joseph's College BA Acting Program

• Intro: Stage Combat

 

2008

Park Slope Creative Arts Camp

• Intro: Stage Combat

 

Workshop Teaching Experience:

 

2009-2010

St. Joseph's College Martial Arts Club

• The Art of Striking vs. Grappling

• The Tradition of Martial Arts vs. The Sport of Martial Arts

 

Teaching Assistant Experience:

 

2012-Present

Swordplay

• Class assistant to Joe Travers and Nathan Decoux on SAFD Skills Proficiency Tests and Workshops

• Class coverage

• SPT Peer Tutoring

 

Columbia University MFA Acting Program

• Assistant to Joe Travers

  • Unarmed

  • Single Sword

  • Knife

 

July 2014

SAFD 35th Anniversary Skills Proficiency Test

• Class assistant to Joe Travers, Nathan Decoux, Ricki Ravitts

• Videographer and Choreography Archivist

 

Administrative Experience:

 

2009-Present

Brooklyn College BFA Acting Program

• 3rd Year BFA Showcase Advisory Board

• 3rd Year BFA Showcase Movement Consultant

• 3rd Year BFA Showcase Scene Director

• BFA Program Admittance Counsel

 

2014-Present

Swordplay

• Advisory Council

 

Counseling/Supervising/Advisor Experience:

 

2009-Present

Brooklyn College

• BFA Teaching Assistant Training Program

 

1993-1997

St. Mary Mother of Jesus

• Day Camp Supervisor (Ages 13+)

• Day Camp Counselor (Ages 3-5)

• Youth Ministry Spiritual Advisor/Guidance Counselor/Mentor

Personal Trainer Experience:

 

2009-Present

Tai Chi Chuan

• Private/Class Instruction

 

2008-Present

Freelancer

• Personal Trainer/Fitness Program Director

 

2008-2011

Paris Health Club

• Personal Trainer

• Tai Chi Chuan Class Instructor

• Trident Training System Creator/Class Instructor

 

Stage Combat Training/Certifications/Workshops:

 

SAFD Recommended Pass

• Unarmed Combat 7/2014

• Single Sword 5/2014

• Small Sword 7/2014

• Quarterstaff 7/2014

• Knife 2/2014

• Broadsword 7/2014

• Sword and Shield 9/2014

• Rapier and Dagger 7/2014

 

Stage Combat Workshops

 

     Summer Sling 2015 Teacher Assistant and Internship

          Teacher's Assistant:

               The Duel Small Sword (Tuftee)

               Contact Improv Choreographer's Track (Shaw)

               Lessons From the TCW (Brimmer/Shaw/McCoy)

               Group Choreography Choreographer's Track (Shaw)

               Introduction to Knife (Shaw)

               Knife (Rodriguez)

               The Final Frontier: Spacial Awareness (Ravitts)

               Anatomy of the Kill (Rodis)

 

          Classes:

               Drill Baby Drill Small Sword (Ravitts)

               Top Blade: Nailing the Fight Audition Rapier (Hastings/Hastings)

               The Perfect Parry (Fittkau)

               Contact Improv (Shaw)

               Playing the Wound (Brimmer)

               Choreo Track Wrap Up (Brimmer/Chin/Suddeth/Shaw/Male)

              

     LA Tech Stage Combat Workshop 2015

          Impolite Smallsword (Vaughn)

          Grappling for Stage Combat (Grenke)

          Fight Director's Forum (Armit)

          Escrima/Broadsword for Film (Mann)

          Medieval/Rondell Dagger (Grenke)

          German Longsword (Grenke)

          Scrappy Grappling (K.J. Jones)

          Advanced Quarterstaff (Vaughn)

          Martial Intent (Kelly)

          Precognition (Kelly)

 

• MACE Winter Wonderland Workshop 2015

  • Full Body Knife (Anzaldua)

  • 2 vs 1 vs 2 (Burckhardt)

  • I Told you the Let the #&*% Go! (Yondorf)

  • Roll If You Want To! (Wright)

  • Blind Smallsword (McFarland)

  • Contact Hits (Burckhardt)

  • The Baronial Hall (Bellomo)

  • Beat Down! (Burckhardt)

  • One for All, One for All – Multiple Opponents Swashbuckling (Kunzler)

  • Wounds and Kills of Capo Ferro (Woolley)

  • Unarmed for Film (Ryan)

  • Sword and Shield vs Broadsword (Mann)

  • Stab Them Til They Stop Moving (Burckhardt)

  • Ugly Smallsword (Bonacasa)

  • MMA Techniques for Film (Johnson)
     

• TCW Teaching Symposium 2014

  • Choreographic Logic: Rapier/Dagger (Ryan)

  • Unarmed (K.J. Jones)

  • Acting the Fight (Ryan)

  • Storytelling with Smallsword (Shaw)

  • Teaching Lecture (K.J. Jones)

  • Teaching Footwork/Drills (Ryan)

  • Knife Drills and Coreography (K.J. Jones)

  • Historical Styles and Weapons for the Theater (Ruben)

  • Teaching Techniques (Jones/Ryan)
     

• Philly Cheesesteak Workshop 2014

  • Fighting and Stunt work for the Camera (Calendar)

  • Weapon Maintenance (Cordero)

  • Case of Rapier (Rose)

  • Mass Battle – Romeo and Juliet (Rose)
     

• Summer Sling 2014

  • Slamming and Jammin': Intercepting Fight Rhythm (Johnson)

  • McBain Smallsword (Shaw)

  • Blood and Sweat: Unconventional Tech for the Two-Handed Longsword (Jones)

  • TCW Q&A (Brimmer/Male/Shaw)

 

Additional Stage Combat Classes and Workshops:

Under Joe Daly

• Fencing

• Advanced Fencing and Scene Study

• Advanced Weaponry and Advanced Combat

Under Ian Marshall

• Contemporary Stage Violence

• Advanced Fighting and Stuntman Technique

Under Joe Travers

• Fight Direction ('09)

• Teaching Stage Combat

• History of the Sword

• Physical Reaction/Response Study

• Point-work and Casting the Attack

• The Art of the Fall

• The Art of the Knap

• Renaissance Spear

• Fight Directing Part 1: The Choreography ('14)

           -Using Aristotle's The Poetics as a Guide

 

Under J. Allen Suddeth

      Fight Directing Part 2: Weapon Care and Maintenance

 

Stage Combat Weapon Specialization Classes:

Under Joe Travers

• Sheleighly Stick Fighting

• Swashbuckling Swordplay

• Medieval Combat: Medieval Dagger, Long Sword vs. Quarterstaff, Halberd vs. Sword and Shield, Broadsword and Dagger

• Mass Combat

• Bound Duel

• Gladius

 

Master Classes with J. Allan Suddeth

• Rapier and Buckler

• Sword and Shield

• Swashbuckling Swordplay

• Rapier and Cloak

 

Master Class with Ian Rose

     German Longsword

 

Acting Training:

MFA Acting Brooklyn College ('08)

HB Studios 2000-2005

Acting

• Scene Study (Mary Beth Easley, Dorothy Dorff)

• Realism and Chekhov (Marc Blum)

• Shakespeare (Valerie Clayman Pye)

• Improvisation (Rose Bonczek, Rasa Allan Kaslaz)

Voice

• Chuck Jones Technique (Judylee Vivier)

• Linklater Technique (Susan Patrick)

• Fitzmaurice Technique (Francine Zerfas)

• Musical Theater (Rob Larocca, Phyllis Grandy)

• Voice and Shakespeare (Master Class with Andrew Wade)

On Camera

• Acting and Audition Technique (Gary Cowling)

Speech/Dialect

• Diction and Dialects (Charlotte Fleck)

Movement

• Lecoq (Adrienne Kapstein)

• Butoh (Ian Wen)

• Alexander Technique (Laura Smith)

• Movement (Barry Estes)

• Yoga, Chakras, and their Emotional Center

• Suzuki

 

Martial Arts Training:
 

• Tae Kwon Do (3rd Dan)

• Cooper Ryu Jujitsu (1st Dan)

• Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (Blue Belt)

• Tai Chi Chuan Yang Style Long Form (Practitioner/Instructor)

• Kali/Eskrima

• Boxing/Kickboxing

• Torite Jujitsu

• DDP Yoga

 

Martial Arts Workshops:

Mission Martial Arts (led by Prof. Miller)

• The Art of Pressure Point Fighting

• The Power of No Mind

• The Power of the Mind and Mental Focus

• The Art of the Wave Form

• To Solve the Puzzle of Kata/The Bunkai Key

• The Spiritual/Physical Benefits of Meditation

 

Brooklyn Martial Arts Master Class

• The Utilization of the Omaplata (Kyra Gracie)

 

SAFD Hours

Total SAFD Hours: 1,133.5

Total SAFD SPT Hours: 1078

(Hours transcript avail upon request)