KICKS OF DANSE DE RUE SAVATE
by Professeur Buitron
The history of the kick in the
French pugilistic arts has been very well documented in written and oral
traditions. Yet many in today’s world believe the falsity that sailors brought
it back from the Orient. This misconception is very much a dojo myth which can
be easily discredited.
Savate as the mother art traces its origins back to antiquity, yet the first
salle (school) was opened to the public in 1803 by Michel Casseux, also known as
Pisseux.
The fouette was very much documented, yet this is taught in all the salles of
Savate and its appendage bodies. It scaled the technique of the legendary Bruce
Lee in his quest for perfection, thus adopting the fouette, and his followers
renamed it the famous “Savate toe kick.”
The adaptation of this kick into the different arts of the West and East began
as early as the 1800s. It was claimed by General Japy of the French army that in
Peking in the 1840s the Pekinese aristocrats sent their children to learn a more
brutal form of self-defense than the local fighting arts of China. Those Chinese
fighting arts looked more like a dance with techniques that were not as brutal
as English boxing or as semi-brutal as French boxing.
During the changing of the guard, or Golden Age of Boxe Francaise, as it is
referred to, the fouette was used in all the major pugilistic styles of France
from 1880 to 1910. Everyone had a type of fouette with minor variations
according to region (tour de force), thus many regional kicks developed from the
fouette.
Several have become specialized kicks that are are actually regional kicks
taught in certain salles for years, thus breaking the taboo of students
cross-training within the two styles that both befriended and hated each other.
During the time frame after the melding of the two styles into what is, in the
opinion of many, the pinnacle of the pugilism realm, Savate: Boxe Francaise, the
regional kicks were no longer guarded as closely as they were before 1970.
You had savateurs training in
both salles of the two distinctly different styles. So, regional kicks expanded
into the ring, and some vanished into history, while others were kept by the
salles where they originated.
Just to name a few: Diable de Mar, Fouette Italiene, Coup de Mul, Coup de Singe,
Coup Direct, Chasse Italiene, Rever Italiene, Fouette Face, Fouette Marteau,
Fouette Scorpion, and Queue de Roquin. These kicks, along with their traditions,
are taught in the salles of Danse De Rue Savate.
What is the reason these kicks were developed? The reason is that during a great
period in the history of French pugilism, several fighting arts were developed:
Savate, the father art, Chausson, the uncle art, and Zipota, its cousin. These
had been around since 1800. Yet Boxe Francaise originated from Address Parisian,
whose founder was Maitre Charles Lecour. For most of the 1800s, and as late as
the 1970s, Savate, or Boxe Francaise, the most popular of the pugilistic arts,
were, or had been, in a kind of war between families.
This animosity, or the reason thereof, was lost in time, yet the reason was told
to me by three great maitres: Count Pierre Baruzy, Roger Lafond, and Sylvain
Sylvani. The reason started during a bout that Maitre Charles Charlemont had
against Maitre Victor Casteres when Charlemont kicked Casteres in the groin with
a fouette face. Haquin, the nemesis of Charlemont and good friend of Casteres,
as well as practitioner of Savate and student of Eugene Lafond II, father of
Maitre Roger Lafond, challenged Charlemont in front of those watching the bout
at Salle Wallgram in 1900.
Yet there was another reason before that which was started by another maitre of
Boxe Francaise. Maitre Albert disliked the jue bas of Savate and its practices
in the street, which he deemed uncouth for modern society. His opinion of the
jue haut was that the practice of Boxe Francaise was that of a gentleman’s art,
or better yet, that of an officer’s prestige. Consequently, he provided a
sanctuary for the police and for the officers of the French army in his Paris
salle.
We need to understand that traditions passed down both orally, operatively, and
speculatively need to be taught. So many professeurs of Savate: Boxe Francaise
have forgotten to “guard the gate” in passing down the traditions and history,
thus producing savateurs who know nothing about their actual history. This is
very much evident within the confines of Contemporary Savate, where people are
taught in seminars and hold movement and strikes without learning the why!
Even today in Savate: Boxe Francaise, teaching the fundamental kicks and their
movements, which were once associated with different kicks, are seen in today’s
expansion of Contemporary Savate as negative.
Let me explain: Before 1995 you had the Chasse: Frontal, Lateral, Italiene, its
Striking lines: High line (figure/haut), Medium (medium), Low line (Bas),
Movement of striking: Main au Sol (hand on the ground), Sauté (Jump), Sautant
(jumping back) and Spinning (tournant).
So, within the teachings of Savate: Boxe Francaise, the fundamental kicks such
as the chasse, whether shortened, no longer is the term lateral or frontal used,
and any kick that is given while spinning was, and is, called tournant,
regardless of the kick. So, teaching has, in a way, been lost, and that old
guard at the gate is no longer seen.
In Contemporary Savate the term becomes round-kick, as well as kicks that look
similar to their older brethren, but in no way are they the same when it comes
to arming, positioning, ability in power, and above all, essence of Savate.
Though when explained, the look of bewilderment is obviously seen and confusion
sets in instead of truth being embraced.
Keeping the true teachings alive is only for the continuation of Savate as a
martial entity. In Savate: Boxe Francaise they are not taught because its
purpose is solely for the ring and rules apply. Its essence as a fighting art is
but one reason. Nonetheless, the regional kicks have their use in combat when it
comes to having a wide range of tools to clean and repair the road of life—the
road we all travel upon.