Violence Dynamics refers to two separate things. The first is the Violence Dynamics lecture. It's an important part of the Intro to Violence seminar. Self-defense is about avoiding, mitigating and surviving violence, right? And managing any risk requires knowledge of that risk. Too many martial artists and self-defense enthusiasts have spent year or decades training for the dark day when they will have to deal with a bad guy, and yet have not spent one day studying bad guys. There are systems that will give you answers, yet have never studied the problem. Does that make any sense at all?
Of course not. Would you go to a doctor who had studied surgery and drugs but refused to study injury, disease or basic anatomy? Of course not.
The second is the Violence Dynamics series of seminars. In 2010, Kasey Keckeisen invited two authors, Marc MacYoung and myself, to teach a week-long seminar at his dojo. It was a blast. Kasey is a serious martial artist, a SWAT member, leader and training coordinator, okay shot with a rifle, and confirmed comic book nerd.
That grew into VioDy*, an annual seminar held in Minnesota with spin-off seminars (so far) in Edmonton AB🇨🇦 Ashburn VA and Oakland CA. Multiple days, multiple instructors. The cast has included the original three (Kasey, Marc and myself) Randy King, Dillon Beyer, Rick Wilson, Myron Crossitt, Terry Trahan, Kathy Jackson, Ed Calderon, Tammy Yard-McCracken and the crew from Querencia Fitness.
* I wanted to call the Violence Dynamics Seminar the "VD Clinic." I was not only vetoed but am not allowed to name things any more.
WHAT'S COVERED AT VIODY?
Each one is a little different, depending on the instructors and what the students need. We also tend to run multiple tracks-- the instructors not on-deck teach advanced classes or semi-privates to the "OGs" or students who have attended multiple times.
These are the classes that we agree make up the core:
Introduction and Safety Briefing, paperwork as necessary.
Introduction to the drills
Context of Violence Talk
Basic Power Generation
Counter Assault
Violence Dynamics
Leverage and Leverage Points
ConCom
Targeting
Force Law
Ground Movement
Environmental Fighting
Advanced People Watching
OG STATUS
VioDy is a seminar, but it is also a tribe. Returning students are called OGs, and they get special recognition and privileges.
At the end of your first full VioDy you get your ODIN codename. (That's a Kasey thing, he's a comic book nerd.) At the end of your second, you get your ODIN card and are officially an OG. At the end of your third...
OG privileges:
• A discount.
• Breakout sessions and private lessons. We have extra instructors. Most of the time one or two will be available. If you've already attended a class and would like to go deeper or do something else completely, as an OG you can request a free private lesson.
• As an OG, you have access to Day Zero.
• As a senior OG, you might be told what OG really stands for.
Day Zero
For the first few VioDys we ran the class from Saturday morning until the following Thursday. Thursday happens to be the day when Kasey’s SWAT team trained. So the final day of training was brawling with SWAT. A good time was had by all.
In 2016, for various reasons, we changed the schedule and now SWAT’s training day was too early. Simple fact, we couldn’t have strangers play with SWAT. It wouldn’t be safe for anybody. And SWAT missed us too. So we introduced Day Zero. People who had trained with us before could come to an unofficial off the books day (The day before Day One is Day Zero) and play with SWAT. There was much rejoicing.
We can’t always do a Day Zero (logistics, usually) and we only have access to SWAT in Minnesota, and not always even there. But when we have the logistics, we like to provide a free day of unusual training to the OGs.
If you want a taste,copies of the VioDy Student Manual from VioDy Prime 2017 are still available on Amazon. It's not a stand-alone, just a little history of VioDy, short class outlines, and places to take notes.
Just for the record, I get a small percentage when you go through these links and buy stuff on Amazon. Other venues, like Smashwords, I still get royalties, but no commission.