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Ron Tisdale wrote:
Dan, Mike, and Ark at an Aiki-Expo? I'd show up.
A group of martial artists gets together and a fight breaks out. Quelle Surprise. -- Chas, from rec.martial-arts.
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Heh. Over the years at various workshops there have always been some Aikido people. On the QiJing list there are a number of Aikido people. Heck, I remember do a workshop purely for an Aikido group near Heidelberg, about 10-12 years ago (and as I've improved, still improve, I look back at some of those workshops and wish I could have done better for all those people). In other words, the interaction with people from different martial arts, including Aikidoists, is nothing new, as far as I'm concerned.
However, just to keep it on the table, let me say that while I have a lot of friends in the Aikido community, going back to the mid-70's, there are also a lot of people in Aikido who I don't have the highest regard for. The superficial "Aiki Speak" stuff far too often hides a petty, "gotcha"-type personality. There are people who are interested in these ki things, Ron, and there are people who are anxious that this talk of ki things either go away or be trivialized so their own knowledge can continue to shine through unblemished in the Aikido community. One of the reasons I'd personally be reluctant to go ton Aiki Expo is because it disturbs me to see people playing Aikido Sage while actually being distressingly human in their foibles. But then, to be fair, I see that sort of behaviour at every Expo and gathering of all martial styles. Not that there aren't a lot of good people at these things.... it's just that the number of role-players can be distressingly high.
FWIW
Mike