Wolf System stage combat training

The Wolf System of stage combat training was founded in 1988 by New Zealand-based fight choreographer and stage combat 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.

History

The Wolf System (under the name "Re:Action") was originally a collection of stage combat techniques adapted from professional wrestling, 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 games and exercises.

The system was first introduced to the international stage combat community at the Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Conference held at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, in 1998. Since that time, aspects of the system have been taught to actors, directors, 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.

Philosophy and pedagogy

The Wolf System is designed to teach a series of fundamental movement and performance skills that are common to all forms of stage combat. These skills form a stylistically neutral basis that can be adapted to fit the requirements of numerous different characters and fighting styles as well as different choreographic and production genres.

The two fundamental premises of the Wolf System are defined as Safety and Storytelling, both with reference to performance combat as a skill of theatrical illusion.

The partnering and performance skills are divided into the following categories:

Synergy - non-verbal, especially tactile, communication between actors during stage combat training and in the performance of fight scenes

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 the performance partner's body weight

Extension - methods of safely projecting the true momentum of an illusory attack away from the partner's body

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 actor while performing in a fight sequence

Examples of 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. Examples of individual or solo exercises include:

"Slow-mo Samurai" - in which the participant practices maintaining alignment and extending various attacking gestures towards specific targets

"Doppelganging" - in which a participant mimics the movement style of another participant as closely as possible

Examples of partner exercises include:

"Stand-off" - a contest of balance and synergy in which the aim is to cause the opponent to break alignment by stepping off-balance

"Back to back lift" - in which participants alternately lift each other onto their backs, employing skeletal alignment supported by muscular strength.

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, safely simulating some of the characteristics of real combat.

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 experienced stage combat practitioners to experiment with a wide range of unusual fighting techniques and styles, including many that are not typically offered in more orthodox stage combat training programs.

References:

WOLF, TONY: "Action Design: New Directions in Fight Choreography". Martial Arts in the Modern World, Praeger Publications, 2003

WOLF, TONY: "Kampf ist Emotion" (Issue 6, Cast Magazine, Germany, Dec.-Jan. 2005)