In this conversation
Craig Gemeiner and I talk about his domain of expertise, Savate.Craig Gemeiner began his martial arts training in 1975, and began coaching in 1982. He specialises in the study of traditional Western fighting arts, particularly Savate and its associated disciplines, and adapting them for modern use. Craig was a founding member of the Australian Savate Federation Inc., which was recognised by the Federation Internationale de Savate, and served as its first president and technical director from 2002 to 2010. Craig won a gold medal at the 2005 Asia Pacific Open Savate Championships, captained the first Australian team to compete at the World Savate Championships in Paris in 2008, and won a gold medal at the 2016 Savate Open Tokyo competition at the age of 53. Gemeiner holds the rank of Silver Glove Technique Level -1 in Savate -French boxing.
He currently coaches Savate on the Gold Coast, Australia.
Gemeiner Academy of Savate Website--http://gemeineracademy.wordpress.com
Defense dans la Rue Website-- http://defensedanslarue.wordpress.com
La canne Vigny –http://lacannevigny.wordpress.com
Australian Savate Homepage—http://savateaustralia.wordpress.com
Craig, thanks for taking the time to have this chat. You are renowned in the Savate community particularly in the research and training of the older systems, so you are exactly the man I want to go to with questions regarding Savate in its street incarnation, and its origins.
CG- Thanks for the invitation Mark.
MH-Can you give us a little bit of background on the origins of Savate, the street –defense arts.
CG- Let me start by saying entire books have been written on the origins of Savate. It’s really in-depth. I’ll very briefly cover the major players who were involved with the self-defence aspects of Savate, but it’s important to keep in mind that my comments relate to only a fraction of Savate’s history.
The first major player was a man named Michel dit Pisseux. Pisseaux was born in 1794 and bought up in Courtille. During his early adult years, he would visit bars, cabarets and balls in Paris that were frequented by French street fighters. He carefully observed these fighters in action to identify, organise and catalogue the techniques they used, and he eventually systemised a method that included 15 divisions of Savate (emphasising low kicks and simple hand strikes) and 15 divisions of ‘La Canne’ (‘French cane fighting’). He opened a Savate school in Montmartre, at which he taught the aristocracy, artists and writers, and Savate’s popularity in and around Paris grew.
During the 1830s, Charles Lecour, a student of Pisseux, trained with English pugilist Jack Adams. Lecour combined English boxing techniques with the lo
w kicking techniques of the older methods on which Savate was based and introduced kicks above groin level, creating a new system that would later become known as ‘La Boxe Française’, or ‘French boxing’.
Lecour’s system retained Savate's weaponry skills, allowing it to be practised by the general population as both a sporting activity and a method of self-defence. It became very popular in Paris.
Lecour’s most famous student, Julien Leclerc, began teaching French boxing (as it was taught to him by Lecour) in the latter half of the 1800s. In the early 1900s, Leclerc published an important treatise on the Lecour method of Savate, French boxing and self defence entitled ‘La Boxe Practique Offensive et Defensive Conseils Pour Le Combat Dans La Rue’. The treatise covers the practical application of both offensive and defensive techniques, and gives general advice for personal protection on the street.
In 1899 a student of Leclerc, Emile Andre, published a more detailed self-defence treatise. Entitled ‘L’art De Se Defendre Dans La Rue’, the work presented a systemized method of personal combat derived from a number of combat sports. Andre was a self-defence instructor, a fencing professor, Jiu-jitsuka and an instructor of French boxing, and his treatise explained the use of these fighting disciplines, either separately or in combination, under various circumstances. The method presented in Andre’s treatise would come to be called ‘Defense dans la Rue’, meaning ‘Defense in the Street’.
In 1912, a gifted Defense dans la Rue instructor named Joseph Renaud published another work on the method. Renaud, who was also highly accomplished in English boxing, ‘La Canne’, Fencing, French Apache street fighting, Jiu–jitsu and French boxing, called his manual ‘Defense dans la Rue’, and used it to substantially expand upon the content of Andre’s treatise.
At about the same time, a well-known French boxer, fencer and Defense dans la Rue practitioner named Georges Dubois was also making a name for himself. Dubois took part in a highly-publicised contest against Jiu-jitsu exponent Ernest Regnier, and was defeated. Dubois learned from his loss, noting what he believed to be the essential skills for practical real combat, and featured them in his own published work on Defense dans la Rue.
MH – New Orleans, also a French port, was quite a melting pot itself, I see rumblings of
further mix and influences here, perhaps a few other surprises additions, do you have any insights into these possible other influences.
CG- New Orleans is not my area of historical study regarding Savate or any other martial arts, so I can’t comment.
MH- Many are familiar with the sportive side of Savate and a bit less on the street side of things, would you mind delineating the major differences between what you would find in the ring and in the older street – system.,
CG- The modern sport, which is actually based on a modified version of the classical Charlemont method, is a codified combat sport. In France, the sport is practised under the technical direction of the ‘Federation Francaise de Savate Boxe Francaise et D.A’. That means all skill training, along with coaching and competition, must be done in a particular way, which is similar to any other combat sport.
The self-defence method of Defense dans la Rue, whose development has been quite well documented since the late 1800s, is comprised of basic, effective skills derived from its older influences. Its stand-up techniques, for example, were heavily influenced by the classical Lecour method of Savate. And it was also influenced by French weaponry systems, English boxing, Lutte (French wrestling), Jiu-jitsu and the dirty tricks of the Apache street fighters. Only a handful of proven techniques from each of these systems, that could be applied under the real pressure of street fighting, were successfully integrated into Defense dans la Rue. Like modern Savate and La Canne, Defense dans la Rue does require formal training and can’t really be learnt from a book. The syllabus is much more open than the competitive side of modern Savate however, and its training outcomes are totally different.
MH- If you were to emphasize the street side of Savate for training would the ratio of kicking decrease? Increase? Stay approximately the same?
CG- The ratio would generally decrease when compared to the sport. In fact, only three kicks were used in Defense dans la Rue—the ‘Chasse bas’ (a type of side kick delivered to the shin and knee), the ‘Coup de pied pointe’ (a kick using the toe of the boot, usually aimed at the groin) and the Coup de pied bas (a kick using the inside edge of the boot, aimed at the shin).
MH- French martial arts sees the use of the cane, la canne, as a walking stick transfer from sword culture. Any other weapons that you are aware of inside the Savate tradition and how that tradition survives today?
CG- The other weapon used today is ‘Le Baton’ (the French two-handed long stick). In France, two methods for this weapon are typically taught—the modern ‘Federal’ method and the older ‘Joinville’ method. Each method is taught under the technical direction of the Comite National de Canne de Combat et Baton, which is associated with the French Federation of Savate, and both entities help preserve the traditions today.
MH- How is Savate organized today around the world.
There are four ‘disciplines’ of modern Savate, each of which is codified. Most also have a grading syllabus.
First, there is La Boxe Française, which is the competiti Second, there is ‘Savate Defense’, which is a modern form of self-defence, based heavily on Savate, that includes ‘Baton Defense’ as a weaponry component. Third, there is the Savate weaponry discipline, which includes La Canne (using a single cane), Canne Double (using two canes), La Canne Chausson (the use of the cane along with kicks) and ‘Le Baton’. And fourth, there is ‘Savate Forme’ which is a kind of Savate-themed aerobics.
ve, sporting discipline of Savate I’ve mentioned earlier.
Globally, the Federation Internationale de Savate oversees all four Savate disciplines.
MH -Thanks for your insights Craig.
CG- Any time Mark.
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