there are a few in very popular yet casual categories like Overwatch, but yes you have to go into hot tubs to see them and spend time in those streams to get recommended them
to clarify, I meant it looks and feels like contact improv (the so-named discipline of dance, not to be confused with improv comedy etc) not that it was improvised.
I’ve taken H2H, rapier, short sword and shield, sword and dagger and a few other stage combat classes in both UK and US — and then in production you usually just get “any old sword” (usually a heavy one, as Tybalt in R&J they gave me this really fancy grip with a finger hole for my index, but it made supranative positions difficult)
You’re right in that they are based on real combat — you learn fencing footwork and guards, but also you’re learning a mix of slight of hand (how to “knap” - fake the sound of hitting /being hit while reacting like its real), and safety instructions. As someone who came from ballroom to jazz/modern dance to acting, it’s more like dance, especially freeform contact improv dance, than it is like actual fighting.
I imagine in real fights-to-the-death there’s a lot less concern about safety, distancing and the lines your body draws in movement, and more about hurting the other fellow as efficiently as possible.
in the 1600s the adverb “bad” went from meaning “incorrect” to being an intensifier - “they wanted that badly” (meaning he wanted it very much, as opposed to his want being poorly formed).
This form of hyperbole has extended over the years and orphaned to a point where now the [they wanted that] part is inferred and we can refer to something as “badass” or “baddie”, understanding subconsciously that is implied that it’s an extender of wanting/liking something “a lot” (“badly”).