Christian Vivo

Lead Instructor - Academy Dean

Christian Vivo was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1961. He started studying Asian Martial Arts at the age of 7. Over the years he has studied Kenpo Karate, Shotokan Karate, Escrima, Wing Chun and Kendo. He grew up fascinated by swords and started training in Olympic style Fencing in 1979. He has been an active competitor and coach of this sport ever since. He was a member of the Brown University Fencing Team and was the team captain his senior year. He has been a Fencing Instructor at the Glendale YMCA, Whittier College and the University of Southern California. He currently teaches Fencing at Marymount High School in Los Angeles. In 1998 he discovered that copies of Medieval and Renaissance treatises on fencing were available. Since then he has primarily studied the works of George Silver, Fiore dei Liberi, Capo Ferro, Charles Besnard and the Royal Armouries Manuscript I.33,. He has taught classes and seminars on the fighting styles described in MS I.33 and George Silver’s treatise. He currently teaches the use of weapons as described in the treatises by Ridolfo Capo Ferro and Fiore dei Liberi. He has translated the 17th century treatise of Charles Besnard from the original French and is currently working on interpreting that work.

Christian Vivo graduated from Brown University in 1983 with Bachelor of Science degrees in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering. He then attended the University of Southern California and earned a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering in 1985. He is currently an instructor at Marymount High School in Los Angeles, California. He teaches Physics, Robotics & Engineering, and Fencing. In addition, he acts as a Faculty Trainer in the use of Technology in the Classroom for his fellow faculty members. He also coaches the Fencing Team.