Aikido & Sword Demonstration @ Cheltenham Pilates & Yoga Centre Saturday 18th June 2011
Our demonstrations on Saturday were part of the excellent Cheltenham Pilates and Yoga Centre Open Day. There were several fascinating Yoga and Pilates workshops running throughout the day and we were pleased to be given two sessions to run our demonstrations and workshops, introducing beginners to the dynamic concepts of flow and balance.
The morning slot was well attended and was led by sensei Tim Dickerson who opened with a talk about the differences between other martial arts and our Aikido, his informative talk straight away captured the audience as he demonstrated some of the physical principles on Sempai James Dalton- Golding. The demonstration then progressed further with another demonstration of fluid aikido, performed by Sensei’s Richard Trafford & Tor Laurel.
Following a multi directional series of attacks, Richard moved fluidly through each, deftly redirecting Tor whilst not directly confronting any of the attacks. The aim of the display was to introduce beginners to the idea of flowing motion.
After the demo Tim Dickerson invited the audience to take part and with great humour and instruction and helped them toward dealing with a straight push to the shoulder, paying particular attention to the point of ‘first contact’ with the push. Then went on to teach an expansion of this ‘first contact’, leading to a form of manipulation, finishing with an arm lock.
The class did very well with them all having a good grasp of the principles involved.
To finish the morning session Richard & Tor again took to the floor to demonstrate the same previous 4 attacks but this time Richards movements went further by displaying a flowing series of locks and hold for each. This culminating in a dramatic ‘take down’ to the floor which neither Tor, nor the audience were expecting!!
The afternoon session took a similar direction with more audience participation with the flowing principles but, as we had more time than in the morning session, we went on to expand the ideas of fluidity by exploring the grace and poise of Japanese sword work.
Here the audience expertly taught and encouraged again by Sensei Tim had a go at a series of cuts, sensei Tim invited them to try to ‘slice’ the air, rather than ‘bash’ it. Also Richard & Tor again demonstrated a free form series of cuts and parries to show how the same ‘first contact’ flow idea is mirrored in sword work.
To finish our demonstration, and to finish on something of a high, Richard took to the floor once more for a spectacular display of Live Blade swordsmanship. Performing a series of cuts, postures and re-sheathes with the sword he demonstrated the truly artistic expression of this wonderful subject, much to the appreciation of the audience.
In both sessions we were asked a lot of really good questions pertaining to the classes we teach and their subject matter and it would seem there was a great deal of interest in the air for aikido & sword classes in the future.
Our thanks again to the organisers of the open day, giving us this opportunity to bring these great subjects to more people.
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