If you were my best friend and I had to prepare you for a sword-and-dagger duel in two hours, the material in this class is what I would cover. In short, you cannot claim that you know Italian sword and dagger unless you are familiar with the following:

• The main guard of sword and dagger--as well as the tactical reasons behind each element in the guard
• The four lunges
• The four parries
• The openings and the lines in Italian sword and dagger
• How to provoke attacks through gaining the opponent’s sword and performing invitations, and how to defeat the opponent as he launches his attack
• Feints in sword and dagger (introduction only--this could be a whole class)

This class is for anyone who wishes to use a companion weapon together with the rapier--including the left hand, the dagger, the targa or even the cape. The dagger, however, is the most pedagogically-effective weapon to instill the concepts we will cover.

There are no prerequisites for this class, although a degree of familiarity with the Italian rapier (single sword) will greatly help.