Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Pankration: Authentic Ancient Greek Fighting Style

Since I was doing some research on how to make Meleager more real, and seeing as I love fight choreography, I decided to research Pankration. It's a form of martial arts that was practiced by the ancient Greeks that has been rediscovered and retaught to modern Greeks. My favorite part is where they kick the shield in half using a move called Gastrizein at 7:38. I still can't upload it straight to the page, so you'll have to link to it here

This is an ancient depiction of the shield cracking kick. Pretty legit huh? Anyway, another good reason for watching the video is that they give a good look at the kind of diet and exercise that Meleager would have had.

On top of that, you see a good selection for the kind of set we would want to build with the stone buildings and the olive trees that are all around. It also gives a better look at the kind of pottery/utensils that Meleager would have used. It's a great show, and when Cameron and I choreograph the deaths in Act 4 we'll refer a lot back to this style.

Yay for the History Channel!

2 comments:

  1. I'm adding this comment so that I'll receive credit for what I've already posted.

    For the set being on the Globe theater, the poles could be dressed up to look like trees for a setting in a forest and a bar could be pulled out for the tavern scenes. For the last two acts we would just need wooden tables nothing too fancy.

    Costumes
    Having the setting in Greece, most of the play will be done in Greecian garb. You know, robes, tunics, skirts, sandals. It'd look a lot like Ben Herr.

    Props
    The main kind of props in this play would be eating wear (which would vary historically between lower class pottery and higher class silver smithing) and weapons. Ancient Greecian weapons mainly consist of spears, shields, leather breast plates, and nothing fancier than a gladius.

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