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Paske has a martial arts background, which he regularly employs in his saber fighting. "Lightsaber is a bit of a conglomeration of other sword styles, mixed in with fancy moves and altered a bit for choreography," he said. "I go to a Japanese sword class on the weekend, I've done a bit of fencing, and in my martial arts training I've worked with the bo staff and a little bit with Escrima… it all sort of mixes into what I do with the lightsaber choreography. Sometimes we take some of the moves and make them bigger, flashier, or do some things that would be considered mistakes in an actual sword in the course of making things more dynamic or visually interesting for an audience, but there's still quite a bit of crossover from real styles, and having a background in a sword or martial art is a great advantage even just in terms of movement and footwork if nothing else." Martial arts experience isn't really necessary, he points out—his branch of the Saber Guild has several members who get by without it. "I like to say, 'Everyone starts from zero, but we all have a different zero.'"
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Lone Star Saber Academy is a small group—at present only three people regularly attend the weekly practices—but in the past they've had as many as ten committed members, a decent number for a group that mainly operates in the Austin suburb of Round Rock. The fees the group picks up either go toward buying or constructing practice sabers and costumes, or toward charity. "We've given over $1,200 to Austin Disaster Relief Network," Tucker said, "and we've helped with the John Speasmaker Scholarship for Round Rock Drums and Rhythm workshops." Other events include theatrical brawls during local festivals.Tucker doesn't have a background in stage combat or martial arts, and as a result, the Lone Star Saber Academy's training for beginners draws heavily from the fencing rules of the Society for Creative Anachronisms, an organization dedicated to helping people accurately recreate the Renaissance and Middle Ages. There are eight acceptable points of contact for duelers to hit, he says, including head, shoulders, limbs, and feet. "Other groups break out into the other forms that the previous Star Wars canon recognized," he told VICE. "Our group doesn't formally recognize them, so I probably can't list them off. There's Shii-Cho, which is the basic one, and then there's the aggression form, and others. It's something that's been made up by people who have sword experience, saying, 'This is what I saw in Anakin's sword style. We'll call this Arturo. This is what we saw in Mace Windu's style, we'll call that something else.'"What's better than Star Wars? Star Wars and anime, duh! The Creators Project found a fan-made Star Wars anime short film.
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