There is nothing new about this, the choreographed fight scene probably goes back to prehistory and fireside re-enactments of fights with ferocious beasts or recalcitrant neighbors. Combative sports have always had great crowd appeal and formalized theatres have often thrived on battles, blood and gore. Until recently, training in how to perform fights and swordplay was stock-in-trade for those in the theatrical profession; many became quite proficient. The great Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean was a regular student at the famed fencing school of the Angelos. Tarleton, a popular Elizabethan clown, was a master of the sword. Ben Jonson, the playwright and poet contemporary of William Shakespeare, killed a member of his own troupe in a duel. In recent memory, many of the greats of the acting world received formal training in swordplay and combat and were well known for their skill at performing fight scenes.

Today, however, in spite of the incredible amount of violence that appears on stages and screens and the pressure on performers to be capable of doing "action," very little training is readily available in this once common field. One may take a course in "stage combat," or learn "picture fighting" from a stuntman, or even get a few lessons in fencing or martial arts, but often these are of little value. Unfortunately, with the reality of a swordfight effectively nonexistent, and with most individuals' awareness of fighting skills extremely limited, very low caliber instruction is usually all that is obtained, and that often only when the instructor isn't guilty of outright charlatanism. Most who attempt to teach this field have very little practical knowledge. There is no industry or educational standard for any phase of the art, misinformation and cliched "tricks" are the norm. Even taking fencing lessons from an accredited Master doesn't fill the gap, as modern fencing is quite a bit different from fencing as it was taught for actual combat and almost a completely different discipline from theatrical swordplay.

Taken from the Academy of Theatrical Combat's Handbook of Techniques by Dan Speaker