Training Above the Clouds
The summer camp “Training Above the Clouds” has become something of a brand over the past few years, and rightfully so. Last year’s jubilee 10th event was specific for the first ever appearance of a foreign guest instructor (Kevin Secours), but this one was very special.
Building blocks of Homo Ludens
Many people are confused or frustrated when training in Systema and related martial arts, mostly those who had already had some prior MA training, and this stems largely from the perceived lack of direction in training and clear cut curriculum. While some Russian schools do feature some kind of syllabus, others are based on a different approach.
Above the Clouds
Above the clouds is international seminar led by Alex Kostic, now already for more than 10 years. It geathers people from all over the world to enjoy the beauties of serbian nature and culture, to train with one of the world's best known systema experts, to socialize with people and relax in 4 star hotel at 1780 m above the sea level.
Unique opportunity for those who are beginners in this martial art and for passionate practitioners who are willing to improve their skills...
Andrey Vadimovich Gruntovski
Andrey Vadimovich Gruntovski is a renowned Russian poet, ethnologist and connoisseur of Orthodox theology. However, he is certainly mostly reputed as the leader of the Petersburg school of traditional fisticuffs (sometimes also known as skobar). Gruntovski is the author of 7 books, but his by far most poplar one is the monographic work on the traditions of fist-fighting in Russia, and it went through several printings and editions.
"What's in it for me?"
If you have got this far in browsing though our website, it probably means you have developed at least a modicum of interest in what we do, but may wonder what is it exactly that you will benefit from getting involved with the Homo Ludens methodology. Yes, I have to stress here, it is first and foremost a methodology and progression in training, not a style or system in the sense of rigidly structured, highly canonical body of techniques.
Homo Ludens Martial Arts
Combat, as a diverse conglomeration of specific practices of relations with oneself and others, necessarily implies movement as a horizon of more or less set possibilities. For each of us, the possibility of movement is so axiomatic and immediate that we almost never think of it. The moves that people make are most often instrumental in character – walking from part of the town to another in order to get to work, bending over to reach an important document in a drawer, sitting down to get rest, etc. The common thread for all these motions is that they are not an end in themselves, but rather aimed at some purpose exterior to the movement itself. On the other side, in the window of glorious human dignified practices are those that have taken movement to an art: acting, ballet, dance, etc. What does it mean? It is to say that within those practices the movement is not in the function of some immediate goal, but instead it rises to the fullness of its temporality, which realized its essential capacities through the play. Play, therefore, is not something we use to attain any other goal – it is a goal in itself.