Trapped in Form

The Art of War talks about trapping your opponent in forms and making him take opportunities he doesn't really want to take. I taught a lesson based on this principle last night. Take for instance an opponent who persists in holding his/her blade in a low line. There may be a couple of reasons for this... a) they have some tactic in mind (more on this later) or b) they've seen other fencers do it and they think it's cool. In most cases I have seen, their opponent can't help but try to fiddle about and engage the low blade as if it's the most important thing ever. It isn't -so get over it; quite literally. The best thing to do with an opponent's blade held in the low line is attack in the high line. If the opponent is just mimicking something they've seen they will either get hit or attempt some form of wild semi-circular parry which you can deceive. Even if the opponent is attempting to get you to attack there's only a limited range of parries that will work so you can again deceive it if you are smart enough. The blade in the low line is a classic example of an opponent trying to hold you by the form they are taking. Avoid getting drawn into it at all costs.
Conversely, you can force your opponent to take the low line by attacking low into their hip with a pronated hand. This will almost invariably force a parry of octave which can be disengaged over, your hand coming back into supination and hitting high. Force opportunities onto your opponent that you want them to take whilst avoiding the forms they wish to oppose on you.....