From emilyd@HOTMAIL.COM Wed May 27 11:53:23 1998
Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 14:53:57 PDT
From: Emily Ann Dolan
Reply-To: Aikido List
To: AIKIDO-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU
Subject: One Seminar Review: the People!
I hear ya'll out there slavering after a seminar review.
My Web browser has made a hobby of hanging itself up this morning so I
am not sure what is out there and what ain't.
Mistah Gordon, if sweet and mild is what you make of me, then you must
have mistaken me for a see-gar. ;)
Now I have gotten on the list a little and read the reviews, my remarks
are to Wendy AND to Ivan:
*turbo hyperblush mode ON* aw...shucks.
On the other hand, I'm not sure if I LIKE going to a seminar and getting
called sweet and cute. Granted, I was kind of injured.
Gonna have to cause more trouble next time!
A few personality descriptions, very brief, are in order for all you
People readers:
Mike Bartman sounds JUST like he does on the List, a real information
monster....if size DOES matter, Bartman is the Matterman. He has a very
nice voice.
Mike Burke is a big, sweet teddy bear of a guy with a very relaxed,
aware manner. Another nice voice.
Cady is so similar to a "big sister" of mine here in town that it was a
shock! She's kind and funny and quick on the lip. Gave me some great
pointers and showed me a picture-perfect side kick (okay, it was aimed
at ME, I paid close attention!) she knows her stuff! A real thinker and
fellow country gal.
Janet is the New Yorker's New Yorker, if I had to make a diagram of Who
comes from Where she's be in the NY box. And she liked my Bach joke,
which gives her big stars in my book.
Maria (de Rosa)looks like she just walked off the dance floor of Fame
(but in fashion, ya know) and she's a tiger on the mat.
Jill is earthy and dynamic, did some Reiki on my arm after CG #$VII
quite accidentally broke a blood vessel when he used me as uke.
Wendy is tall and glamourous (technically not as tall as me but she
looks like it cuz she's so lean and mean), "her legs are wicked and her
arms are long, when she moves my brain screams out this song" Mojo was
writing about HER! she has a terrific bedroom voice and a wicked dark
sense of humor! and beautiful ukemi. Her spouse, Jim, is a furry bear of
a man with a KILLER ankle yonkyo (yes, I asked for it!!) I am not
surprised that the wolves are hanging out under his window, they are
laughing themselves silly over the next funny little thing he will do.
Kjartan is not actually Norwegian. He is a Gypsy foundling raised by
Norwegians. Sly, sexy and silly. I drank two Dos Equis and got into a
"how many odd things can you do with _your_ tongue" contest with him and
Maria.
I think I lost, but I was laughing so hard it was hard to tell!
Hide the women! he really DOES have great hands, we traded massages.
Jun reminds me of my cat, especially on the mat, he is a liquidly
responsive uke and very elegant and utterly relaxed in person. And he
has a really cute giggle!
Ivan. Well, do you remember Ivan Drago from Rocky XVI?
He's nothing like that.
I was on crutches with torn ankle ligaments about six weeks ago, I have
a brace on and am really unsure of my ukemi....
At some point I am paired with Ivan and realize, just as he begins the
technique, than I am gonna fuckin' fly no matter what!! It's hard to
protest when you are airborne, and I hit the deck with all my old ukemi
skills intact. That was an intense personal victory for me, to be able
to take decent ukemi again, and I gotta say, if you like a lot of hang
time for your breakfall, go see Ivan for a koshi or two.
I got a nice koshi workshop from him later, he is very patient and
encouraging.
If you had seen him imitating George Simcox's "floating" you, too, would
know what the power of Ki really is...
it's the art of making your opponent laugh so hard they can't stand up,
much less hold you back!!!
Ya'll, if one could really laugh one's ass off, I have NO idea what I
would be sitting on at the moment. That goes for the WHOLE weekend.
I got to meet Wiley, he came over and inspected my ankle and chatted
with me, he looks like a fighter or a wieghtlifter or both, but what a
sweetie! I observed some of his titanic battle with Ivan on the mat.
Wiley is *not* someone you want falling on you, much less TRYING to
squish you, he's built like the proverbial brick shithouse.
Alas, I got tired of watching them squirm around together like redfaced
mating snakes and did not see the true outcome.
Also met Craig Hocker, he looks like someone I saw play King Richard
(the Lion Hearted?) in a movie once, very tall and elegant, soft, sure
technique, very relaxed.
Chuck Gordon is a very sweet, mellow, funny dude with a razor wit and DO
NOT let this man grab any part of you. If you do, try to anticipate what
it is he is going to do with you and do it for him.
Dennis Hooker made me cry by talking about things that have been
breaking my heart here at home, the places where politics happen when
what should be happening is appreciation of the reality that training is
"ichi go ichi e" one life, one meeting.
Definitely a student of Saotome's.
And, yes, a no-touch throw.
No touch.
No questions.
Carlos Escobar is the last word in elegant personae.
He taught some basics of tai-sabaki that I really needed to see, moving
your center and the other person's from katatetori.
I worked with Polo, who acted as native guide for some of us and gave us
a good look at one of San Antonio's neighborhoods.
His arm-wrestling match at the dinner with Cady lasted a good 10-15
minutes. Actually, it might have been a face-making contest....
I did not get to work with Rocky Izumi, but he wins the Best Dressed Man
award very easily with his Texas meets LA look, VERY spiffy! Looked like
something out of a slick and stylish John Woo flick.
Lee and Maria Escobar played perfect host and hostess, pausing briefly
in their mad dash to organize to come and sit out on the
cop-and-neighbor-free veranda at the Drury where we got OT and stayed
there!
And there were many more. I slipped out for the sword demo in San
Antonio and drove around downtown San Antonio, so I missed Chuck Clark's
class as well as Rocky's, dammit, but the sword demo really WAS very
inspiring and cool. If I had gotten there 30 minutes sooner I could have
been up with the rest of them cutting tatami, but instead I walked in to
see my crazy friend Kevin with a katana in his hand being coached by the
premier tameshigiri master in Japan.
The fortunate result of this seminar is that my spouse is encouraging me
to buy a katana for my 30th Bday next month. :)))
Do not think for an instant that any one of the frequent posters are all
talk and no do.
With the exception of a very frightened beginner from SA who I hurled
almost into a wall before he confessed to only six weeks in aikido,
everyone was just as earnest and technically good as anyone, in fact in
the top quartile of anyone I have worked with.
I am humbled and inspired, my soul is on fire with aiki and a desire to
go and do koshi-nage to everyone I meet!
(Ivan, yer just saying I'm cute because we spent so much time getting
hip together! )
I do not have a good memory for specific techniques, but I am working on
a narrative as of NOW, should have it posted by manana.
Hugs and koshi's all 'round,
mle
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