Hi Peter,
I think there is always an element of complicity in any demonstration, and as your present conundrum aptly demonstrates - how best to convey the spirit of the art, in a spontaneous and genuine manner, and yet not be completely unrehearsed at the same time. I'm sure Ueshiba M would have experienced the same dilemma, when asked to perform his art in front of the Emperor.
Although, I do recall participating in an aikido demonstration with Takeda sensei, that was both spontaneous and totally unrehearsed. This demonstration was held in the presence of ACT state ministers and various dignitaries from Japan, as a prelude to the Nara-Canberra sister city signing ceremony.
As I recall, when it was time, Takeda simply strolled onto the center of the cramp function space and proceeded to throw people around. In such a claustrophobic environment, the ukes had the unenviable task of being completely in tune with Takeda, whilst providing a genuine attack and spontaneous response at the same time, AND without getting hurt, or throwing themselves into the visiting dignitaries - which would have been a terrible disaster if either did happen.
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So we go back to the original question. What is the purpose of his demonstration? What is he really showing? One possible answer is something like, 'If you need to ask the question, you will never understand the answer,' or, 'This cannot be expressed adequately in words', or some such IHTBF-style answer. But I do not think this is quite right.
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I do not pretend to know or fully understand what Takeda is demonstrating. And by the same token, I am neither defending him, nor the reactions of his ukes. Whether I am a "believer", "non-believer" or agnostic is beside the point - aikido isn't the first art I've been exposed to, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
However, I am certainly not advocating that what he is showing falls into the IHTBF category. Far from it. But having had the brief experience of studying with Takeda, and with many other high level teachers from other arts, I've come to realize that there are many more layers to the onion.
Best regards,
Ignatius