{"id":10203,"date":"2011-10-12T17:58:51","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T21:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=10203"},"modified":"2017-10-19T16:22:35","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T14:22:35","slug":"oui-oui-french-boxing-a-k-a-la-savate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/oui-oui-french-boxing-a-k-a-la-savate\/","title":{"rendered":"Oui, Oui, French Boxing – aka “La Savate”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>he martial art of “French Boxing<\/strong>“, which is also known as “savate<\/strong><\/em><\/span>“, doesn’t date from yesterday, and for that reason it belongs to the category of\u00a0les Arts Martiaux Historiques Europ\u00e9ens<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(Historical European martial arts), such as the 15th century “Jeu de la hache<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(“game of the axe”), the English jujitsu-inspired “Bartitsu<\/em><\/strong>“, or the much older Greek\u00a0pancrace <\/strong><\/em>(in English “Pankration.”)<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hqBATBlEcTA<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A scene from the 1995 movie “Savate”, starring world kickboxing champion and French\u00a0commando marine (naval commando)-turned-actor, Olivier Gruner.\u00a0The movie, in which Van Damme<\/span><\/a>‘s shadow lingers not too far behind, is set in Texas during the American Civil War<\/span><\/a>, when the French “Second Empire”, under the disastrous rulership of “Napol\u00e9on le petit” (as famously nicknamed by Victor Hugo<\/span><\/a>), committed troops to an ill-fated invasion attempt of Mexico<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The word\u00a0savate<\/strong><\/em> in French designates an “old shoe<\/strong>“, or even an “old slipper<\/strong>” in colloquial terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mais qu’en est-il de ses origines <\/em><\/strong>(But how about its origins)?<\/span><\/p>\n

The earliest record goes back to shortly before\u00a0l’\u00e9<\/strong><\/em>poque napol\u00e9<\/strong><\/em>onienne <\/em><\/strong>(the Napoleonic era), towards the end of the 18th century.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some specialists trace a northern France origin of la<\/strong><\/em> savate<\/strong><\/em>, mainly around the capital\u00a0Paris<\/span><\/a><\/strong>, as opposed to the southern form of martial art known as le chausson <\/em><\/strong>(meaning “the slipper”), which saw the light in the city of\u00a0Marseilles<\/span><\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, both\u00a0la savate <\/em><\/strong>and le chausson <\/em><\/strong>techniques would merge into la boxe fran\u00e7aise.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n