HISTORY
The history of the NSFS is not long, compared with the British and American societies, but here is a short account for the interested reader.
The Nordic Stage Fight Society is currently made up of the National stage combat organisations from Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and personal members from around the globe. The members of these organisations, both the students and the teachers, work together every year in creating workshops and training opportunities, thus spreading awareness, raising the quality of stage combat in the Nordic region and sharing together the history of the NSFS.
The first larger gathering of stage-combat people in Nordic countries was a workshop in Linköping, Sweden 1992.
Three years later, in 1995, the Nordic Stage Fight Society was officially founded to become a society for stage combat professionals in Nordic Countries with private members from Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The first board of the society consisted of Peppe Östensson, Inga-Live Kippersund and Tina Robinson.
The aim for the new-founded society was to promote safety and quality first, while also raising the artistic level of stage combat in the Nordic Region.
Thus, it all began.
Not long after the official founding of the NSFS, the society experienced a rapid growth. In 1997, the first four certified NSFS teachers graduate from the summer course, and in 1998 a summer training program started in Estonia, leading to Estonia becoming a member country in 2000. By this inclusion, the NSFS was no longer a society for just the Nordic countries, but for the Baltics as well.
In 2007, to meet the demands from all the different countries, the NSFS restructured to be an umbrella organisation, with all the different national organisations, but also personal members to fit those countries without a national society, gathered under its name. The board of each of these organisations would serve members in their own countries, thus creating a more active society with regular workshop activities in all corners of the Nordic and Baltic region.
Not only did the demands grow for the members in the society, but for the teachers as well. In 2008, a new teacher/mentor program was developed to meet these demands, followed by the first students graduating through this in 2012. This process started a new generation of teachers, with more focus on teacher education and expertise.
In 2010 Finland applied for membership in the NSFS, leading to another expansion.
© Photograph by Darina Rodionova for Dramatic Combat Finland
THE WORKSHOP IS LIVE!
SUMMER WORKSHOP
The Nordic Stage Fight Summer Workshop will be organized on 15.7.-27.7.2024 in Hadeland, Norway