Contact Improv and Aikido

When teaching children, I'm doing my best to teach and transmit Aikido skills, important ones, like falling safely and getting out of the way. It's still a combat art any way you cut it but one of the lingering issues was that I hadn't yet found a way to teach it without striking, something children aren't very good at and something I'd rather my students not get good at until they are much older. How to proceed in the most peaceful manner possible was a mystery until recently when I spent some time with friends from the dance world. Both dancers and choreographers kept saying Aikido wasn't all that different from dance. What!? Well, it took all of one rehearsal and an afternoon analyzing Youtube footage to see that they are far more correct than I'd have liked to admit. Nothing at all wrong with dance, it's pretty amazing, but this is Aikido!

As it turns out even very simple adaptation of the most basic principles of contact improv gleaned from observation and a few conversations had an immediate effect, the kids get it. Not only do they get it, it adapts almost flawlessly. Students seem to intuitively learn to be sensitive to each others proximity and without lengthy explanations beyond making sure they understand the concept of a conversation, talking; with their hands, they begin some very aiki movements. The primary differences between the two seem to hinge on Aikido being tuned not only for combat but efficiency. Aikido can be big and is often pretty but to many Aikidoka, that gets old in a hurry. ...anyway, yeah, I'm successfully teaching Aikido through modern dance.

There are numerous examples of contact improv with excellent quality video like this one from Youtube.

Of similar interest may be an illustrative, if somewhat controversial, Aikido video from a self-described "aggressive" Aikido school in Serbia. (Turn the sound down for this one.)

Though, this is really more the idea...