A fine Autumn day of Skill and Elegance.
The 2017 Parasol Duelling World Championships were held on Saturday September 9.
Summer in Calgary had been very hot, and very smokey from the forest fires to the West in British Columbia, and this early September day was no exception.
The competition was held in a beautiful Confederation Park in NW Calgary.
 |
| Photo by Chuck Szmurlo, May 30, 2007 |
The Grande Promenade of the contestants was very picturesque, the dark green trees with a scattering of bright yellow leaves falling made for a wonderful backdrop.
 |
| Photo by Dave Harold |
 |
| Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Competitors and Doctors L to R: Maxwell MacDonald-Smythe (aka Kevin Jepson), Barb Sand, Sarafina Kain, Monica Willard, Karen Siemens, Teagan de Boer, Dr Johann Portsmouth Adler (aka Stewart MacPhee.) L to R seated Raven Hawthorne, Briona Justine, Josanna Justine Photo by Dave Harold |
After the promenade the contestants and Doctors gathered for the traditional "Welcome and Admonition" from Madame Saffron Hemlock, given this year by Baroness Fawkes as Madame was unable to attend due to the smoky air.
 |
| The Welcome and Admonition Baroness Daniella Fawkes (Dana Teh) and Erin Sand were the judges. Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Salute to the Judges Photos by Karlo Keet |
The first competition was the Compulsory Figures.
The Ladies demonstrated great skill and confidence with their figures.
Here is a sample of some of the Compulsory figure forms.
 |
| Twirl! Karen Siemens Photo by Dave Harold |
 |
| Snub! Barb Sand Photo by Dave Harold |
 |
| Plant! Monica Willard Photo by Karlo Keet |
After the Compulsory Figures were completed the Flirtation Trials were held, always a crowd favourite as the Ladies try to elaborate on their figures.
Elegance and drama were very much in evidence.
 |
| Twirl Raven Hawthorne Photo by Dave Harold |
 |
| Plant Raven Hawthorne and Josanna Justine Photo by Peter Justine |
This year there were several unique examples of creativity including, for the first time, the use of a 'prop'
 | ||||
| Twirl Teigan de Boer and Monica Willard (with prop) Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Plant Teigan de Boer and Monica Willard Photo by Peter Justine |
 | ||
| Snub Teigan de Boer and Monica Willard |
Continued below.
 |
| Photo by Dave Harold |
After a short break for the Judge and her assistant to get their paper work prepared, the formal Duelling Competition was setup.
The formal duelling made use of the Dance Cards, as introduced last year, which makes the Doctor's job easier. With eight competitors we were able to run single bouts so both Doctors were able to watch the competitors. The speed of the duelists continues to improve so it was necessary to watch closely to insure that the figures were actually complete at the hold!
In the continuing quest to handle the inevitable draws we used a "sudden death" form of runoff. This was first used very successfully at the April Spring Regionals this year. The "sudden death" system has the duelists start back to back and they take the two steps as normal but, instead of turning, they choose and complete a single figure while still facing away from each other. At the command of the Doctor they turn to face each other and the duel is resolved according to the normal rules.
As it turned out there were only two draws during the formal competition this year and the new procedure worked really well.
Formal Duels.
 |
| Briona Justine and Teigan de Boer Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Raven Hawthorne and Briona Justine Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Raven Hawthorne and Josanna Justine Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Sarafina Kain and Raven Hawthorne Photo by Karlo Keet |
The tension climbed as the duels continued resulting in some "bustling" and (very polite) trash talk.
 |
| Bustling! Barb Sand and Monica Willard Photo by Karlo Keet |
 | |
| Trash Talk Teigan de Boer and Sarafina Kain Photo by Karlo Keet |
The intensity of the competition is very apparent in these pictures of the duels.
 |
| Sarafina Kain and Karen Siemens Photo by Dave Harold |
 |
| Josanna Justine Photo by Dave Harold |
 | |
| Briona Justine and Barb Sand Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Monica Willard Photo by Dave Harold |
 | ||
| Sarafina Kain and Raven Hawthorne Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Raven Hawthorne and Josanna Justine Photo by Karlo Keet |
After 3 complete rounds the Judges announced the semi finalists.
 | |||||||
| Semi Finalists Briona Justine, Josanna Justine, Sarafina Kain Photo by Dave Harold |
 |
| Josanna Justine and Sarafina Kain Photo by Vendetta |
 |
| Briona Justine and Sarafina Kain |
And Briona Justine emerged the winner of the formal Duelling Competition!
 |
| Briona Justine and Sarafina Kain After the final duel! Photo by Vendetta |
The duels were quick using the mini parasols.
 |
| Josanna Justine and Barb Sand Photo by Karlo Keet |
 | |
| Josanna Justine and Teigan de Boer Photo by Karlo Keet |
Josanna Justine was the winner of the Street Duelling!
With that the formal competitions complete it only remained for the chief judge to present the winners of the various competitions with their sashes.
First the Junior Champion, Briona Justine.
 | |
| Briona Justine and Baroness Fawkes Photo by Vendetta |
 |
| Briona Justine Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Baroness Fawkes presents Josanna Justine with the Street Duelling award. Photo by Vendetta |
 |
| Josanna Justine Photo by Karlo Keet |
 | |
| Raven Hawthorne Photo by Karlo Keet |
 |
| Photo by Dave Harold |
The 2017 World Parasol Duelling Champion
Sarafina Kain!
 |
| 2017 World Parasol Duelling Champion Sarafina Kain! Photo by Vendetta |
Here they are, all the 2017 World Champions!
Congratulations Ladies!
Congratulations Ladies!
 |
| 2017 World Champions L to R Briona Justine, Duelling and Junior Champion Josanna Justine, Compulsory Figures and Street Duelling Champion Raven Hawthorne, Flirtations Trials Champion Sarafina Kain, World Parasol Duelling Champion! Photo by Kevin Jepson |
Thanks Karlo!
 |
| Maxwell MacDonald-Smythe (Kevin Jepson) presents Karlo Keet, Catstar Images, with a Special Appreciation Ribbon Photo by Peter Justine |
And so another World Championship comes to a close.
Thanks to all the competitors, officials, and doctors for making this event such a wonderful celebration of the our elegant sport.
Thanks as always to the photographers that make us look so good.
Karlo Keet of Catstar Images
Dave Harold
Peter Justine
Vendetta
See you all in 2018!
 |
| L to R Standing Barb Sand, Teigan de Boer, Stewart McPhee, Monica Willard, Erin Sand, Dana Teh, Karen Siemens, Kevin Jepson L to R Seated Josanna Justine, Briona Justine, Raven Hawthorne, Sarafina Kain |
KJ
For more information and to find out more about this great sport go to:
Madame Saffron Hemlock’s Parasol Duelling League for Steampunk Ladies
Click here for information on the history and development of Parasol Duelling
or click the Parasol Duelling tag.
The Rules for Parasol Duelling
~ 0 comments: ~
~ Post a Comment ~