We always look to prove our interpretations of the techniques described in the sources, sometimes even desperately. We try to fit them in a system or a framework, we consider whether they are sound in a given context and we try to execute them in sparring and competition. While all of these are important and help us approach the truth we can never reach, they come with their downsides.
The systems and frameworks are interpretations just like the individual techniques. As result of our modern way of thinking they can easily be misleading, unless we dig deep into the way the arts and sciences and their instruction worked in the past centuries.
The question of context is challenging, as there are so many variables in play. The techniques for war, competition, the duel and self-defence were different, even if based on the same principles. If we mistake the context, we run the risk of validating our interpretation against false parameters.
Effectiveness in sparring and competition is a good test, but often it tests more the individual than the technique or interpretation. A good swordsman can make even the wrong interpretation work in a fight and likewise an unexperienced fencer can fail even the most basic technique with the most agreed interpretation. Finally the actuality of combat with live blades in earnest and the mindset of the duellis is known to few swordsmen today, and without taking it into account we can hardly understand all the nuances of the techniques the masters describe.
In the Bolognese tradition we are fortunate to have been given an additional method of validating our interpretations. Being riddled with forms the works of Achille Marozzo, Antonio Manciolino and Giovanni dall'Agocchie present us a way that immediately tells us whether we are on the right path. Working together with Fabio Serraglio, a fellow researcher and swordsman from La Sala delle Armi, who is one the few people to have studied dall'Agocchie's form with great diligence.
Without rehearsals we decided to work through the form so that I would be giving the attacks the way I have interpreted them, and Fabio would go through the form the way he has interpreted it. Though being exactly the way it should be, we were amazed to see everything fall together piece by piece, enabling us to play through the entire sequence without any pause or problem on the first attempt! Coming to the same conclusions in such a compatible way while working in isolation validates our interpretations beyond anything else I can think of. More than simply interpreting singular actions, we approach the movement dynamic of the style behind them.
This is the teaching of Giovanni dall'Agocchie made alive once again.