By Mario Montalvo / ne news editor
A new club on NE Campus enables Star Wars fans to re-enact scenes from their favorite episodes of the saga.
The Lightsaber Dueling Club was started by NE student Collin Bissbort.
According to its website, the purpose of the club is to get people together and have fun dueling. The group records and posts their duels on the Internet for viewers to watch and organizes spontaneous, choreographed lightsaber battles around campus, he said. Bissbort hopes the spontaneous battles will help raise awareness and attract more members to the new club, he said.
The duels will mostly take place in the chessboard area because it’s not in any direct walkway and provides good exposure. Bissbort said he plans to have non-participating members on hand to provide information to anyone who has questions about the event. He hopes people will be interested and surprised, he said. It would be like a flash mob, but with lightsaber dueling instead of dancing, he said.
Student Shane Silagi said he was interested in joining because he’s a big Star Wars fan. He studied stage direction and enjoys choreography, he said. When he read that all battles would be choreographed, he wanted to join the club. He began studying different forms of lightsaber dueling. He’s also interested in the philosophy of Star Wars, he said.
“There’s a whole book dedicated solely to how you duel with lightsabers, exactly how they did it in Star Wars movies,” Bissbort said.
Club member Ivan Trevino was intrigued seeing Bissbort walking around campus with his lightsaber in hand. When he saw the signs for the club, he put two and two together, he said.
“It sounded pretty cool,” he said. “Who doesn’t want to just go out there and fight with lightsabers?”
The club currently has seven members, but students do not have to own a lightsaber to join, Bissbort said. He has also had students from other TCC campuses inquire about the club, he said. He hopes to start a YouTube channel dedicated to the club so other people can see their battles online.
“I’d like to spread it around campuses, not just have it on this campus,” he said.
For more information about the club or to join, visit the Campus Life tab in CampusCruiser.
Watch the Lightsaber Dueling video on Youtube.
