Savate Seminar with Nicolas Saignac

On April 20th 2011 we invited Professor Nicolas Saignac to instruct UCLA Martial Arts students in the art of French Kickboxing or ‘Savate’ also known as Boxe Francaise. With a great turnout of over 40 people Nicolas began by teaching the importance of footwork with some exciting drills.

The first drill was to follow your partner around, if they step back you step forward, if they step forward you step back, if they circle right you circle right etc….the purpose of the drill was to stay just out of range from your opponent but close enough so you can move in quick to strike at any time. To pick up the pace and make this drill more exciting Professor Saignac added in a little competition of trying to slap/touch the other persons front leg. While this is not an attack used in Savate it was a simple way to improve our ability to get our leg out of the way, the hand slap was simulating a kick.

The rest of the seminar was dedicated to learning the specific kicks in Savate; the chasse, fouette and revers. These kicks look very similar to many other martial arts, and one good question posed at the end of the seminar was “What makes Savate unique compared to other forms of kickboxing?” Nicolas answered with “the shoes” in Savateur’s wear a specific kind of show which is similar to a wrestling shoe, but with no tread on the bottom. In fact ‘Savate’ literally translates to ‘old shoe’. Another unique part of Savate is that you can only kick with the foot, you cannot use the shin or knee and you cannot ‘check’ or shield against kicks with your legs you have to get out of the way or redirect the kick using your hands, but this is usually a last resort, the main weapon in Savate is the ability to move out of the way then move in to strike with either your hands or feet.

(Nicolas demonstrating footwork to avoid a kick)

(Savate veteran John Meadows demonstrating a jump spin kick while Nicolas easily floats out of the way!)

After two hours of intense drilling everyone was quite satisfied with for some of them their first experience in Savate! The group met outside to drill Professor Saignac with questions about Savate, from the rules to competition opportunities and from testing to strategy for 45 minutes Nicolas answered all the students questions. Khun Kru Genelle Gaudinez (UCLA Muay Thai Instructor)  asked the poignant question of who to look up on You Tube to be able to see more of this exciting martial art; Nicolas spoke of old friends and competitors with admiration. See below for some videos of the Professor recommendations (click on names to see videos);

Bertrand Soncourt

Amri Madani

Farid Khider

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