Highlander the TV series had better and better sword fights as lead actor Adrian Paul became more experienced and they had better opponents for him.
This episode Duende is one of the last and the best, from series 5. It features Spanish style fencing with a rapier and parrying dagger - you can see the escrima, espada y daga, sinawalli, carenza, and the geometrical footwork based on triangles and circles - and it's all historically pretty accurate.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZXRsVc2v5Y
It's not necessary to watch the whole episode, although you would probably enjoy it - but it has a great training scene, and a great duel at the end.
The episode starts with MacLeod dancing Spanish dance, and the parallels between dancing and fencing, both in footwork, technique, and concept, as well as philosophy, are all there.
The term "duende" means "to have soul"
In flamenco it refers to the dancer having spirit and passion, not just going through the motions, and applies to most latin dancing, Tango, mambo, salsa, etc
The concept of the dancer "becoming the dance" is common and a lot of poetry and songs have been written about it
In Karate Kata it is necessary to "live the kata" so you are not just "dancing" but applying real moves against real opponents, although "imaginary"
At the end of the episode MacLeod explains to Ritche how he used the concept of Duende to transcend technique and become truly spontaneous, beating his technically superior opponent, who own technique and structure trapped him.
This is what Bruce Lee talked about when he said not to get caught in the "classical mess" and be a victim of "organised despair"
The state is "no mind", called "wu wei" in Chinese and "mushin" in Japanese
The Void - creativity - Ku No Kata
Duende
Nice montage of Highlander sword clips:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJZzWi_2h1c
in the frist clip MacLeod is training Ritchie - see if you recognise the boken drills
you will also notice during the sparring they do European fencing with the katana
in the second clip MacLeod performs a Choy Li Fut kung fu kata with the katana - actor Adrian Paul is a long term CLF player
