Virginia Aikikai teaches traditional aikido while maintaining a focus on functional techniques that work whether or not you have a partner or an opponent. We feel that too often the aikidoist falls into a pattern of refining practice to such a degree that the "proper" ukemi is required for a technique to work. When this happens the aikido ceases to be a functional, martial art.

Accordingly, when a new person joins the club, particularly one with experience in other arts, we welcome the opportunity to study how they move and what their responses are. Rather than intensively training these members to "receive" in a particular way, we work to see how the principles underlying aikido can be applied when the "geometry" isn't quite what we are used to. In this way the practice maintains the martial aspect instead of becoming choreography.

George Ledyard Sensei talks about this in the below two part interview in much more detail: