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Old 10-18-2009, 07:46 AM   #10
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
United_States
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Re: Who's got IT and can and will teach it?

Quote:
Robert M Watson Jr wrote: View Post
The first rule of IT club is don't talk about IT club - IHTBF

The short list (not in any particular order):
Mike Sigman
Dan Harden
Ark
Toby Threadgill
Kudora Tetsusan
Ushiro Kenji
Donald J. Angier
Ikeda Hiroshi

The last 5 on the list can also be seen on Aiki Expo DVD's

Folks known to have hands on with members of the above list (not in any particular order)
I gleaned this from postings about Dan Hardens seminar work so I believe these folks have all been hands on with Dan Harden.
William Gleason
Marc Abrams NY
Rob Liberti CT
Tom Holz RI
David Orange AL
Lee Salzman
Mark Murray
Josh Drachman
Greg Steckel PA
Jon Haas NJ
Jeremy Alhouse MA
Andy Prochnow
Jill
Tim Garimaldi
Ray

For out in my neck of the woods William Gleason, Ikeda Hiroshi and Don Angier have or do give seminars at Aikido of Diablo Valley.

Feel free to add and send corrections!
Well, I know some people that do Aikido and who would place pretty high on that list, but who don't make a lot of noise about themselves on this forum or otherwise. I.e., there are more choices than just those listed above. In terms of being able to help others learn the skills, I think it takes a lot longer to get real skills than seems to be indicated frequently on the forum, so while someone who is himself learning can help to some degree, he's still working through his own mistakes and can impart mistakes to would-be learners, too often. I.e., you'll have to be savvy in your choices.

I usually do a quick evaluation of people at the start of a workshop so that I can gauge the overall abilities people already have (and thus adjust what I want to say accordingly). Most of the time I'm a little surprised at how much lower peoples' skills are in relation to their own evaluation of themself; occasionally (and I've been seeing more of this in the last 4-5 years) I'm pleasantly surprised at how well some people have been developing. So it boils down to "you pays your money and you takes your choice". Given that a lot of this material is just barely making itself known, I personally would do a lot of thinking before I made a choice.

Another comment I'd make is that there are some people in other styles who may have skills and they're just not mentioned on this ASU-dominated forum. One rule I stuck to for many years was to look around long and hard before I'd commit myself to a teacher... it paid off for me. Another rule I had was to try to get a feel of the highest placed person in a style that I could so that I'd have an idea of what real x-style felt like and could pattern my goals accordingly. Not all of this is possible; it's just suggestions.

FWIW

Mike Sigman
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