The sun is shining as LSA Professor David Doris leads his class into the Law Quad for an exercise. Suddenly, a large group of disguised figures appears from out of the distance and charges the unsuspecting students, engaging in simultaneous sword battles around them. Once finished, the attackers flee, leading their witnesses to wonder what in the world just happened.

They will later learn that this was a staged event set up by their professor and The Ring of Steel, an organization on campus that focuses on learning various aspects of staged combat from different eras. The members of The Ring of Steel mostly use their talents to create fight sequences in local films and professional theater, like the Michigan Opera Theatre, and to create live performances of their own that can be seen at Renaissance festivals, haunted houses, science fiction conventions and even weddings when the bride is kidnapped from the altar.

“Ring of Steel” refers to the group’s pride in its swordfighting abilities, as well as to its social cohesion.

“We’re swinging swords at 200 miles an hour at each other’s head and if I can’t trust you, I can’t perform with you,” said Christopher Barbeau, the organization’s maestro. “It’s a double entendre – it’s a ring of friends, and it’s also the sound that steel makes when it hits (steel).”

“I’ve come about three days a week for the last three years, and picked it up relatively quickly because I came from a dance background and had the physical coordination skills,” added Diane Miller, the student president and a junior in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. “That helps a lot with martial arts. My favorite weapon is broadsword because it’s big and heavy and barbaric.”

Members can learn a variety of martial arts techniques including aikido, jiu-jitsu and tae kwon do, and can also take advantage of the group’s collection of 2,000 weapons, including whips, visually stimulating light sabers and semi-automatic guns with plugged barrels.

Aside from weapons, The Ring of Steel also focuses on stunt work. During fight sequences, it is not uncommon to see one of the combatants fall off of a high surface, jump off of a mini trampoline and flip in midair, break through sheets of glass or be completely enveloped in flames.

To be lit on fire, the actor must wear underwear made out of Nomex — the material worn by racecar drivers — and get soaked in heat-resistant stunt gel applied to many layers of clothing. The actor must then be covered in rubber cement. Once the heat is felt, the actor falls to the ground and is extinguished by multiple onlookers.

“We can pretty much do every burn in the movies,” Barbeau explained. “There’s a little bit of timing and skill on your part in how you move because it’s real flames. You have to make sure the fire doesn’t go in your face.”

For some of its other stunts, The Ring of Steel uses special equipment not commonly found on a college campus.

“We use quick-release shackles (for entrances by flight) that aren’t intended for human use,” Barbeau said. “We’re all using it for human use but it’s manufactured for releasing a sail. They’re learning on professional-level equipment. This is what is used in Los Angeles.”

With all of these dangerous weapons and stunts, one may wonder how many injuries can result from being a member of The Ring of Steel. However, each of the fights are calculated and rehearsed, with the actors memorizing each physical movement, fall to the ground and drop of their weapon.

“In telling the story of a fight, we have to make it bigger and a little slower than a real fight, and we can build in safety protocols,” Barbeau said. “So this is kind of like wrestling your dad over actual fighting.”

“I’ve got a couple sword scars, but to be honest I probably have more scars from my cat,” added Dave Melcher, a 'journeyman' in The Ring of Steel, or the equivalent of a second-degree black belt.