Join Madame Saffron Hemlock's Parasol Duelling league!

So what do you do when you have a piece of epic music and a pile of fantastic photos from Parasol Duelling competitions?

You make a video ad that's what!

Here is the latest ad for Madame Saffron Hemlock's Parasol Duelling League on Facebook.



I hope you enjoy it and please pass it along to anyone interested!

As always thanks to the Ladies of Madame Saffron Hemlock’s Parasol Duelling League.

And the great photographers who make us look so good.

Karlo Keet.
Clare Gibson
MetallYZA 
Katie Edwards
Lindsay Dunlop
Phi Vernon

Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed, and your water iced.
KJ

A beautiful day for duelling!

The Second Annual World Parasol Duelling Championships took place on September 19th, 2015, in Calgary Alberta Canada.

Central Memorial Park in Calgary AB Canada

"Intrude"
Central Memorial Park

The Championships were held in Calgary's elegant Central Memorial Park which was the site of one of this year's Beakerhead installations, "Intrude" by Australian artist Amanda Parer.

The park had three giant inflated white rabbits, a quirky and exotic back ground for the World's greatest Parasol Duellists.

 On the Thursday evening before the competition the Rabbits were lit up with coloured lights and synchronized music which made for a magical evening.

We added a little parasol fun to the event.

  

Cover illustration by
Kipling West

As part of Calgary's annual Beakerhead event we had great coverage leading up to the day, even making it onto the cover of one of Calgary's regular "things to do" magazines.











On Saturday afternoon the results of the coverage showed in the excited crowd that was gathering to watch the Ladies compete.

Soon the Chief Judge Madame Saffron Taxus-Hemlock arrived and was escorted to the Judges table by Doctor Adler joining the other judges for this year's World Championships.

Madame Saffron Taxus-Hemlock, Chief Judge, arrives and is greeted by Doctor Adler

Judges for the event were:

Photo by MetallYZA

L to R seated at the Judges table:
Her Grace, Christine Pearse the Duchess of Argylle, aka Christie Vanderloh.
Virgo Vermeil, aka Char-Min Wade-Creller.
Chief Judge and Black Sash, Madame Saffron Taxus-Hemlock, aka Jayne Barnard.







The Doctors for the event were:

Photo by Peter Justine

Left: Maxwell MacDonald-Smythe, aka Kevin Jepson (me).
Right: Doctor Johann Portsmouth Adler, aka Stewart MacPhee.








We had nine contestants for this year's World Championships.

L to R
Sarafina Kain, Josanna Justine, Nicki Brown, Cindy Bedford, Katherine Eleanor Lingwood, Cali Brewer, Deanne Robbins, Monica Willard and Raven Hawthorne (missing)
Photo by Karlo Keet

After a brief demonstration of the rules for the audience and an explanation of how the afternoon would proceed, we asked if anybody in the audience would like to try it out. Two young Ladies leapt at the chance!

Being shown the ropes by Raven Hawthorne
Photo by MetallYZA

Future Duelists try their hands at doing Snubs
Photo by Karlo Keet

 This year Street Duelling was included for the first time as an exhibition sport. The exhibition was conducted in the form of a "hold the field" type challenge. After each bout the victor held the field against a new challenger.

Steely gazes and intense action ensued!

Monica Willard
Photo by MetallYZA

Here is the bout between the 2014 Compulsory Figures Champion Josanna Justine and one of the most famous Street Duelists, Monica Willard with dual parasols always at the ready.

Photo by Karlo Keet

After a short break while the judges finished their paper work, the formal competitions began with the Compulsory Figures.

 The Ladies were paired off and each pair did three sets of the figures, the order being determined in advance by the judges. The sharpness of the completed figures and the smoothness of the transitions were notably better this year.

Deanne Robbins with a perfect Snub
Photo by MetallYZA

Raven Hawthorne with an elegant Twirl
Photo by MetallYZA

Raven Hawthorne and Sarafina Kain
Snub!
Photo by Karlo Keet

Josanna Justine and Monica Willard
Plant and Plant with Ankling!
Photo by Katie Edwards

The Flirtation Trials, always a crowd favourite, demonstrated the artistic interpretations, and flirtatious stylings of the competitors. The competition was also done in pairs. In addition to the judges score, one point came from a vote from the audience by way of applause at the end of each round.

There was a lot of applause!

Nicki Brown and Raven Hawthorne
Snub!
Photo by Katie Edwards

Cindy Bedford
An elegant Oriental Twirl
Photo by MetallYZA

 

Monica Willard in mid flirtation
Photo by Clare Gibson

The formal Parasol Duelling competition had only eight contestants as one Lady had to leave to attend a family wedding. Timing is everything wot?

The first rounds of the competition showed the speed and intensity increase noted at every competition since last year's Worlds! The Ladies really showed their skills and both the Doctors and the Judges needed to keep a sharp eye on the competitors to make sure each figure was complete at the hold.

"Just another minute" she said!


A month from now Calgary will be host to the world famous event called Beakerhead.
This five day extravaganza of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Music takes over much of downtown Calgary.

This is also where we will be having the Second Annual Parasol Duelling World Championships!

That is if we can get there barring a few technical difficulties...

Me and the talented Monica Willard working on the "Tin Fish"
Photo taken by the brilliant Neil Zeller at about 2:00am

Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ