Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 10:22:31 -0500
From: Chuck Gordon
Seminar Review: First Indy-Area Aikido-List Mini-Seminar and Beerfest
From my perspective, as an organizer and as a participant, I gotta say that
I had a blast! We met, we trained, we played, everybody went home tired and
happy.
The place: Aiki Concepts/aka Aikido and Tai Chi of Indianapolis/aka the
Yoshinkan dojo. A nice, well-established dojo in Indianapolis with clean,
ample facilities and a generous mat. Location is a bit off the beaten path,
but not hard to get to. The mat is about 1500 ft sq (my guesstimate ...
Scott?), about 3 inches of closed cell foam under a vinyl cover. Nice firm
surface, good footing, not too tacky or slick.
The plan: Yoshinkan, ASU, Jiyushinkai, me. Since Suzie already did a good
post about the gig, I'll keep my comments short.
In the sudden absence, Scott Crawford opened the seminar and conducted the
intro to Yosh' movement. Good solid concepts, nice precise movements. Ya
did good, Scott (and assistants!)
Sean-n-Suzie gave a nice sampling of ASU tachidori that tasted familiar,
but moved different (for me, anyhow). Nicely outlined aikido principles:
get out of the way, don't get hit, take uke's center ... good stuff.
Paul Smith provided a glimpse at the incredible softness of Jiyushin
movement. Very interesting, very challenging. I HATE exposing my kidneys
like that, Paul, but I see the logic. Tricky stuff, nicely taught.
Me; I played, had fun, hope folks enjoyed it and maybe learned something.
Apre-shugyo: Dinner was great in terms of company and camaraderie. Good
folks all, too bad not everyone could make it. The restaraunt wasn't
prepared for us; we literally invaded and took over several tables in the
bar and made one harried server very frazzled for the evening. I never did
get my Dos Equis draft ... the meal was good is service was slow, and
again, hanging out and talking aiki/MA/misc. with the folks was a superb
end to a great day.
We have to do this again. I strongly recommend you other listka try this at
home, too.
cg(a)
|