Our Instructors
ROBERT BRIAN LEVY
Chief Instructor of NOLA Aikido
Our chief instructor is Robert Brian Levy Sensei, who holds the rank of 5th dan (black belt). A native of Louisiana, Brian Sensei has spent more than twenty-five years practicing aikido, both in the U.S. and Europe. He returned to New Orleans in 2007, where he first established our dojo in Bywater before moving to our present location in New Orleans’s Mid-City.
Brian Sensei’s principal teachers are Seishiro Endo Shihan, 8th dan from Saku Aikidokai in Saku, Japan, Jan Nevelius Shihan, 7th dan from Vanadis Aikido in Stockholm, Sweden, and Jorma Lyly Sensei, 6th dan from Vanadis Aikido. Brian Sensei has also practiced with Christian Tissier Shihan, 8th dan from Cercle Tissier in Paris, France. Endo Sensei was an uchi deshi (live-in student) of O Sensei. And Endo Shihan and Tissier Shihan both studied for many years with Seigo Yamaguchi Shihan, another close student of O Sensei. As students progress, we offer belt (ranking) tests regularly, all sanctioned by Hombu Dojo, which is led by O Sensei’s grandson, Moriteru Ueshiba, known as ‘Doshu’ (family heir).
Michael O’Quin, 5th dan; Charles Clebert LeBlanc, 4th dan; Stephen Haedicke, 3rd dan; Pat Wren, 2nd dan; Alessandro Rosiglioni, 2nd dan; Warren Nutini, 2nd dan; Keith Watts, 2nd dan; Laura Whites, 2nd dan; Charles Ruhe, 1st dan; Austen Ward, 1st dan; Matthew Kern, 1st dan; T.T. Kooken, 1st dan; Alex Watts, 1st dan; Gary Gordon, 1st dan; Josh Woo, 1st kyu; Kurtis Gills, 3rd kyu; all teach regularly at NOLA Aikido. And all have trained with us or at other dojos for years.
MICHAEL O’QUIN
CLEBERT LEBLANC
STEPHEN HAEDICKE
PAT WREN
ALESSANDRO ROSIGLIONI
WARREN NUTINI
KEITH WATTS
LAURA WHITES
CHARLES RUHE
AUSTEN WARD
MATTHEW KERN
T.T. KOOKEN
ALEX WATTS
GARY GORDON
JOSH WOO
KURTIS GILLS
Teachers in Our Lineage
SEISHIRO ENDO
Shihan, 8th dan
CHRISTIAN TISSIER
Shihan, 8th dan
JAN NEVELIUS
Shihan, 7th dan
JORMA LYLY
Sensei, 6th dan