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I'm not nervous or anxious about tommorrow but I am concerned. I have this feeling. We're putting on a demo with another club, that's all well and good we share the same building, are in the same association, instructors are good friends yada yada.
What worries me is the content of the demo; everyone seems to be focused on weapons work. I'm sorry but Aikidoka just don't do Aikido demos all that well; they're always done as if Joe Blogs walking in off the street is an Aikidoka.
I feel this sense of real frustration because if I'm going to see a martial arts demo I want to see the art demonstrated; I don't want to see the training demonstrated. A thai boxer laying into a kick bag isn't all that interesting and the fact that you could get twenty karateka to do heian shodan in unison isn't all that impressive; I can get the local dance troop to do that and it would be no relflection on their martial skill.
It fails the "and what?" test. You can swing a stick around in a vaugely interesting manner, and what? You can do it in unison with a group of other people, and what? A demonstration is not entertainment; it's education; it's explaining to the layman why they should take up Aikido.
All is not lost, supposedly us kyu grades have to think of something we want to demonstrate on the basis that people expect dan grades to be good and want to see what kyu grades can do.
I might see if I can find a sixth kyu and spend 15 minutes teaching them to flatten me while I demonstrate some striking. I might be really fancy and demonstrate the weapons work that goes with it so I end up with a progression from weapon to body art to application.
I'll have to plan it out though, I'll do that later, see if I can't plan out a rough presentation.
05-30-2010 06:58 PM 