View Single Post
Old 12-14-2007, 06:30 PM   #77
ChrisHein
 
ChrisHein's Avatar
Dojo: Aikido of Fresno
Location: Fresno , CA
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,646
United_States
Offline
Re: Love to hear your oppinions on this video.

Quote:
David Valadez wrote: View Post
I think I have to disagree with a lot of what is being said, unfortunately, for me, but also for everyone that has said it, everyone has said pretty much every basic status-quo slogan one can ever say.

When you want to develop yourself, truly making the art your own, you are going to have to throw all these slogans out the door. To make an art yours, you are going to have to deconstruct yourself, and that, somewhere in the process of making the art yours, will mean that you will have to deconstruct the art. This will include deconstructing every facet that holds or presents the art as a construct (which can only ever be something other than you). This means, for example, at some point you are going to have to move beyond your teacher, the founder, tradition, your students, techniques, etc. This is not a bad thing, and, believe it or not, the world will not end. Nor will you end in ruin, nor will you ruin your students, nor will the Founder turn over in his grave.

I can't speak for everyone, but I think Paul's statements need to be heard. Folks, in a conversation like this, need to understand that there will inevitably be a propensity to discuss things as if everyone is talking about the same thing - when they are not. This is how the status quo is maintained. For better or for worse, Chris' video is presenting things (i.e. randori) in a way that is quite different from what is more commonly seen in dojo all over the world. In fact, outside of my own dojo, the only other place where I've seen folks take seriously the charge of neutralizing nage is Chris' video and the one by Segal. If someone else has a clip of such training - please share it. If you have a clip, it will undoubtedly add to the conversation - or if you can find one.

Still, with all this talk of irimi and striking, etc., I have a strong suspicion that folks are not attempting to neutralize nage like they are in Chris' video (i.e. Irimi and striking is not the best tactic for when folks are set on neutralizing your ass so that they can gang up on you). So, while there may be a lot more to do (which I'm sure Chris does),Chris video, for me, seems to be attempting to address something that is not at all commonly addressed in the Aikido world.

In short, let's get more clips going here (let's do some youtube searches) so we can have a more established context.

d
Great post!

  Reply With Quote