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 park was built to celebrate the Canadian Centennial in 1967 and it stretches along a little creek that winds for almost a mile through a valley. The park is a very popular wedding spot so we were not sure exactly where in the park we would be able to compete, but as luck would have it we found a beautiful spot amongst the cottonwood trees along the creek, within easy access of the main parking area.
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
We had eight competitors this year, including the 2016 World Champion, the 2016 Junior, Compulsory Figures, and Flirtations Champions.
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
Some different interpretations of the Plant...
Plant
Teigan de Boer and Monica Willard
Photo by Peter Justine
The 2016 World Championships were held on September 10th on the elegant grounds of the Lougheed House in Calgary.
The weather in September can be pretty variable but this Saturday was a beautiful Autumn day, cool but mostly sunny.
There were still lots of flowers in the gardens butsome of the leaves on the trees had started to change.
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
The previous two World Championships were held in conjunction with the Beakerhead festival, but this year we were on our own. There was some concern that we wouldn't get much attention, however there was a great crowd of spectators which was awesome to see. Lots people came out to watch the Ladies compete, many were in costume too.
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
A beautiful day for a competition.
Photo by Karlo Keet
There were eight competitors in this year's World Championships, including two previous World Champions, Karen Siemens and Sarafina Kain, as well as previous Duelling, Flirtations, and Compulsory Figures champions. As you might expect this made for some intense competition!
The Duelists
L to R
Doctor Adler, Sarafina Kain, Monica Willard,Cindy Bedford, Raven Hawthorne,Karen Siemens,Josanna Justine,
Briona Justine, Cali Brewer
Photo by Grant Zelych
The event started with a Grande Promenade of the competitors and Doctors around the stately Lougheed house. In addition to giving the judges a chance to get organized it also allowed the spectators and photographers a chance to get some good photos.
This year the previous year's champions were permitted to wear their winner's sashes during the competition as you can see in the promenade pics.
Cindy Bedford and Josanna Justine
Photo by Grant Zelych
Cali Brewer and Raven Hawthorne
Photo by Grant Zelych
Karen Siemens
Photo by Karlo Keet
Briona Justine and Lyric Justine( Junior Doctor)
Photo by Karlo Keet
Baroness Daniela Fawkes (aka Dana Teh.) and
Madame Saffron Taxus-Hemlock (aka Jayne Barnard)
Photo by Peter Justine
The Judges for this year's Worlds were Madame Saffron Taxus-Hemlock (aka Jayne Barnard) and Baroness Daniela Fawkes (aka Dana Teh.)
Doctors for this event were Maxwell MacDonald-Smythe(aka Kevin Jepson) and Dr Johann Portsmouth Adler (aka Stewart MacPhee.)
Maxwell MacDonald-Smythe (aka Kevin Jepson)
Photo by Grant Zelych
Dr Johann Portsmouth Adler (aka Stewart MacPhee.)
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Madame Saffron welcomed all competitors with the now traditional Welcome and Admonition, first given at the Spring Regionals back in April.
The first competition was the Compulsory Figures competition.
The Ladies competed facing each other in pairs. The judges set the figure that the duelists must end on but the order of the first two figures was at the competitors choice.
You can see the intensity of this formal competition in this picture of two previous Champions during the Compulsory Figures:
Josanna Justine and Sarafina Kain
Photo by Grant Zelych
And
Raven Hawthorne and Cali Brewer
Photo by Grant Zelych
During one of the bouts Raven Hawthorne experienced a technical malfunction due to an over aggressive snub resulting in a "French Tulip".
Raven Hawthorne's "French Tulip"
Photo by Grant Zelych
The next competition was the Flirtations Trials.
Always a crowd favourite.
The ladies were again paired and were given the figure to complete by the judges.
Elegance and creativity were the bywords this year.
Cali Brewer
Photo by Karlo Keet
Raven Hawthorne
Photo by Karlo Keet
Monica Willard
Photo by Karlo Keet
During one of the trials between the first World Champion Karen Siemens and Street Dueler Extraordinaire Monica Willard there was a "Bloomer Incident" .
Captured in this video by Grant Zelych.
A fine way to break the tension that!
Once the Flirtation Trials were complete there was a short break for tea and cakes supplied by the Victorian Society of Alberta.
Christie Vanderloh and crew from the Victorian Society of Alberta
Photo by Lougheed House
The formal Duelling competition included a new procedure this year, a Duelling Card. Designed by Raven Hawthorne. This yellow card, very much like a old fashioned dance card, makes keeping track of the wins and loses easier and gives each competitor a record of how they did during the competition.
Explaining the Cards
L to R
Briona Justine, Cali Brewer, Raven Hawthorne,
Maxwell MacDonald-Smythe, Josanna Justine
The Chief Doctor Maxwell MacDonald-Smythe explaining the new Duelling card to the competitors before the Formal Duelling competition begins.
Another change from previous years was how draws were handled. In the event of multiple draws in a bout the result was determined through the use of Audra Balion's delightful Duelling Cards. Each card has a picture of one of the figures. Each competitor draws a card and the the result of the duel is determined best two out of three.
Parasol Duelling Playing Cards
By Audra Balion
Again this year there has been a steady improvement in the speed and control of the Ladies in their duelling.
This video by Antonina Taskaev, of a bout between two of the fastest duelists I have ever seen, Briona Justine and Cali Brewer, gives pretty good idea of the speed!
The intensity of the formal duelling competition can be seen in these photos.
Sarafina Kain
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Briona Justine
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Raven Hawthorne
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Josanna Justine
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Raven Hawthorn and Karen Siemens
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Cindy Bedford and Josanna Justine
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Karen Siemens vs Monica Willard
Photo by Karlo Keet
Cindy Bedford vs Cali Brewer
Photo by Karlo Keet
Raven Hawthorne vs Cali Brewer
Photo by Karlo Keet
Monica Willard vs Cali Brewer
Photo by Karlo Keet
Monica Willard
Photo by Karlo Keet
Raven Hawthorne vs Karen Siemens
Photo by Karlo Keet
Briona Justine vs Karen Siemens
Photo by Karlo Keet
Briona Justine vs Josanna Justine
Photo by Karlo Keet
Briona Justine
Photo by Karlo Keet
Each Duelist was given two duels and after the first round the competitors with no wins were eliminated As each eliminated competitor was announced they were given the now traditional Twirl by the other competitors. Those Ladies with two wins were given a by for the next round.
After three rounds and another short tea break the semi-finalists were announced.
The Semi Finalists
L to R
Cali Brewer, Cindy Bedford, Briona Justine, Karen Siemens
A further two rounds led to the final bout between Cali Brewer and Karen Siemens.
Cali emerged victorious having been undefeated in the duelling competition!
While the judges compiled and checked their results to determine the World Champion a Street Duelling tournament was held as a "Hold The Field".
A competitor stood against all comers till eliminated when the victor would take the field against the others.
This was the first official Street Duel competition held in modern times and the Ladies showed that they had been practicing since the demonstration bouts at last year's Worlds Championships
Raven Hawthorne
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Briona Justine
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Cindy Bedford
Photo by Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Cindy Bedford showing off her two elegant Street Duelling Parasols purchased recently in Budapest
Photo by Photo by Antonina Taskaev
Cindy Bedford was very well armed indeed displaying a total of FOUR street duelling parasols in a custom holster.
Those parasols served her well and she won the competition thus gaining the honour of being the first World Street Duelling champion!
A hush fell over the crowd as Madame Saffron Taxus-Hemlock called all the competitors before her to announce the winners of the 2016 World Championships!
As each was announced the previous champions presented their sashes to the new champions.
And finally Madame announced the new 2016 World Champion Karen Siemens.
Karen was also the first World Champion in modern times. Congratulations on your victory Karen!
The new World Champion of Parasol Duelling
Karen Siemens
Photo by Elizabeth Howerton
Here they are, all the 2016 World Parasol Duelling Champions!
2016 World Champions
Standing L to R
Monica Willard (Creator of Street Dueling), Cali Brewer Duelling Champion, Karen Siemens 2016 World Champion,
Cindy Bedford Street Duelling Champion
Seated L to R
Raven Hawthorne Flirtation Trials Champion, Josanna Justine Compulsory Figures Champion
Missing Briona Justine World Junior Champion
Congratulations Ladies!
Each of the champions received a prize bag containing items created especially for the winners.
The World Champion received a special prize.
These beautiful Street Parasol Holsters custom created for the World Champion by Master Holster maker Ricardo dos Reis of Old West Leather in Portugal.
Fit for a World Champion!
Custom made Parasol Holsters by Ricardo dos Reis
And so another great World Championship came to a close.
Special thanks to the Lougheed House for letting us use their elegant grounds.
Thanks as always to the photographers that make us look so good.
Karlo Keet of Catstar Images
Grant Zelych
Antonina Taskaev
Lougheed House
Elizabeth Howerton
Barb Sand
Peter Justine
Thanks to Christie Vanderloh and the Victorian Society of Alberta for making sure we had tea and scrumptious goodies to keep us going through the long afternoon of competition.
Thanks to all competitors, Doctors, Judges, and spectators.
Photo by Antonina Taskaev
See you all in 2017!
Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed, and your water iced.
KJ
The 2016 World Championships were held on September 10th on the elegant grounds of the Lougheed House in Calgary.
The formal Duelling competition included a new procedure this year, a Duelling Card. Designed by Raven Hawthorne. This yellow card, very much like a old fashioned dance card, makes keeping track of the wins and loses easier and gives each competitor a record of how they did during the competition.
