Introductions are a friendly road which have been travelled by many very skilled people before me, but as part of my study, I am trying to put together a series of little introductions to key concepts in LVD.
This will help me consolidate what I know, but it should also help me pin down and put into logical order some very short lessons for people who are interested in the style.
My ultimate goal is to gain enough competence to teach, and therefore share the gift that I have been given.
1 - What is Destreza?
ADHD précis:
- La Verdadera Destreza (The True Art): Spanish combat system based on logical reasoning, exploitation of physics, and geometry.
- Diestro/Diestra/Diestrx: People who practice this style.
- Destreza is for everybody: It doesn't rely on physical superiority.
Destreza (sometimes also LVD) is our
shorthand in English for the longer name – La Verdadera Destreza – which
means (roughly) the True Art.
People who study and practice La Verdadera Destreza are typically called a diestro or diestra.[1] I will use the neutral-masculine form diestro for simplicity.
Destreza is a Spanish combat system developed during the 16th
and 17th centuries. Most of the literature about the system from this
period describes its use in fighting with rapiers in single combat.
That said, the guiding principles behind Destreza were designed to apply to all weapons and all kinds of conflicts – back-alley dagger fights, grand troop movements, and even diplomacy.
The hallmark of Destreza is that it is grounded in physics and geometric principles – proportion, angles, gravity, force vectors, etc. – to create advantages which will allow victory, rather than reliance on tricks, brute force, size, reach or speed.
Destreza, like most well-developed combat systems, is also deeply philosophical. All good diestros take care to deeply ponder how to fight, when to fight, and their roles and responsibilities in the world around them.
At least in the author's opinion, the focus on careful exploitation of physics and geometry means Destreza is a little less intuitive, slower to pick up and takes more concentrated study and practice than gaining a "quick and dirty" understanding of some other rapier fencing systems that are favored by SCA fencers.
However, mastery of this system destroys physical imbalances. It will allow a smaller, older, weaker or slower fencer to seize victory consistently.
Destreza is for everyone. Math does not care if you’re 6’5” or 5’0”. All you have to do is learn how to work the angles and trust the system. So, you know, not easy - but simple.
The study of Destreza offers the gifts of self-defense, confidence, discipline, awareness, patience, and efficient and elegant movement to any diestrx, diestra or diestro who commits to it.
- Brisbane School of Iberian Swordsmanship's Beginner and Novice Class Notes
- Puck Curtis's excellent blog
"If we understand all things [by how] necessary, useful, or pleasurable [they are], then in the exercise of arms, though it may seem counterintuitive, we can find all three." - Álvaro Guerra de la Vega, Understanding Destreza, trans. Javier Bermúdez-Prado
[1] Spanish language convention suggests the masculine form diestro for anyone
who is not specifically a woman and diestros for mixed groups of fencers. However, a modern,
gender-neutral variant I first saw suggested by diestro and scholar Javier Bermúdez-Prado is
written diestrx, pronounced “diestre.”
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