John Lennox' Workshop Testimonials

"John started the workshop with unarmed combat, focusing on body mechanics and exploiting weak spots in the structure of the human body. Building up on these fundamentals we moved on to the knife and progressed to the single handed axe as well as fighting unarmed against these weapons. Later we used both weapons together. We ended the day with a freeplay session with knife, axe and both together.

The second day we added longer weapons like the cutlass and the boarding axe. The later being a beast, way too heavy to be effectively used single handed.
John guided us through all kinds of possible combinations of weapons facing other combinations and how to apply them to maximize the chances of success.
The second day of this intense and exhausting workshop culminated in concepts for fighting multiple opponents.

The seminar was a huge success, teaching techniques and revealing concepts of this straight forward way of fighting more than one opponent in confined space..."
- Sam Portlock Participant at R.C. Annie Annual Stage Combat Intensive Workshop, London, England

"I enjoyed myself tremendously. Thanks to John for an excellent workshop. He focused on principles more than on single techniques which I appreciated a lot. However, this made it a rather advanced class - which was fine with me." - Roland Warzecha Participant at Boarding Actions Workshop, Wuppertal, Germany

Photo by Dierk Hagedorn- Boarding Actions Workshop Wuppertal, Germany

"John was perhaps the perfect choice to bring in as a special guest... here's a guy who has the right amount of skill, confidence, sincerity and charm to keep a whole room of fighters captivated (both in the workshop and in the pub). It was incredible how much he knew about various forms of combat, and he was very generous and gracious about sharing these. Somehow he was just an inexhausatble resource of some very, very cool moves, and I honestly could have spent a whole class watching him ward off various attacks in yet another way. At the same time though, I think one of the really beneficial parts of his classes was the fact that we always had lots of time to play and explore. He also really listened to each question you asked, took it seriously, and then validated it by then recounting the question and answer to the whole group - meaning that I never felt stupid asking anything! Ok, I think I've effused enough about him now. I would definitely love to have MORE! is what I'm saying!!"
- Participant at R.C. Annie workshop June '08

"I had a GREAT time at the industry intensive, and was pushed to my limit. I was really nervous at first about working with so many advanced fighters, but they were patient and friendly so I was able to really focus on learning from them. Maybe I'm a bit of a masochist, but I was happy to be so sore afterwards... I felt like I really accomplished a lot of physical training in a relatively short amount of time! I learned so much about the character-driven elements of a fight. John Lennox was the highlight of the weekend for me... what an incredibly dynamic instructor!"- Kylie Johnston Participant at R.C. Annie Annual Stage Combat Intensive Workshop, London, England

"RC-Annie have once more provided an exceptional weekend. Last year was fantastic and I wondered how they could make this year the same, they have. Putting martial arts into stage combat has allowed me to see how the theatrical fight is inspired by the reality in a new way. Working with breakables and the skills it requires, the history and practise of Pirate fighting or historical swashbuckling and insight to different martial art forms all made the industry intensive a must have experience for stage combatants, teachers and students alike.

my favorite sessions I think were the cutlass and boarding axe and the breakables, i'm not sure why though, the breakables because it's fun to smash stuff over people's (Josh's) head and because I haven't worked with cutlass before and of course John was AMAZING. thank you for a great weekend ladies"-Claire Llewellyn Participant at R.C. Annie Annual Stage Combat Intensive Workshop, London, England

Photo by Shirley Chung- ISMAC 2009 Detroit, Michigan

Photo by Aurore Perret- SWASH 2009 Leeds, England

Photo by Jérôme Faure- Paddy Crean Workshop 2009 Banff, Canada

Photo by Bobbie Burns- California University of Pennsylvania Pirate Days Workshop 2009 California, Pennsylvania

Photo by Ragnhild Viken- Boarding Actions Workshop Edinburgh, Scotland

Photo Courtesy of R.C. Annie Ltd.- R.C. Annie Workshop 2008 London, England

Photo Courtesy of Absolutely Perilous- Art of Combat Intensive 2009 New York City

Photo Courtesy of R.C. Annie Ltd.- R.C. Annie Workshop 2009 London, England	Photo Courtesy of R.C. Annie Ltd.- R.C. Annie Workshop 2009 London, England
Photo Courtesy of School of European Swordsmanship.- Workshop 2009 Helsinki, Finland	Photo Courtesy of School of European Swordsmanship.- Workshop 2009 Helsinki, Finland

"On the first day he established a clear and usable combat theory, drawn from historical sources, and then had us apply it in unarmed situations. When that was firmly understood, we moved on to the tomahawk, then the bowie knife. Putting the two together was a natural and easy next step.
On the second day he ran us through the available source material for the cutlass, then had us practice the very simple, basic actions associated with the weapon, drawing on the combat theory of the day before." - Guy Windsor, Founder School of European Swordsmanship- Helsinki, Finland

"...how far can I go in raving about John, his teaching style is so relaxed and supportive... He has a great ability to be able to move from the reality of the historical content to how it can be used on stage effectively. He has left me with a desire to keep working on what we covered over the weekend."
- Sam Portlock Participant at R.C. Annie AoC Stage Combat Intensive Workshop 2009, London, England

"John was fantastic, an inspiring teacher, makes you understand the theory and then allows the chance to put it safely into practise, he makes it look so simple! I thought, as ever, it was well catered for different levels and I don't think that anyone was held back or pushed too far/hard."

- Claire Llewellyn Participant at R.C. Annie AoC Stage Combat Intensive Workshop 2009, London,

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