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My understanding of normal dojo practice is that as soon as technique is initiated, uke moves with tori, maintaining a light contact for as long as possible before taking controlled ukemi. This encourages uke to become very responsive to tori’s actions and to disengage from tori at the appropriate instant. This harmonious form of practice is an essential part of our training. We learn to move in harmony with our partners, move from the centre, keep relaxed and calm, learn how to fall without injury, and so on, to our mutual benefit. Both partners learn their part in the execution of technique. Tori attempts to use uke’s attacking energy to neutralise the attack; uke follows tori’s actions without resistance, receiving technique gracefully. However, if we are not careful, our Aikido practice can begin to resemble dance rather than martial art.
The next time you watch a YouTube video of an aikido demonstration, pay particular attention to the uke. You will frequently see a pause in the technique during which uke is simply waiting to be thrown, rather than being forced to take ukemi through being off-balance. And the ukemi will often be very gymnastic, making the technique look very impressive. Of course demonstrations are usually intended to be visually entertaining rather than martially effective and are not necessarily representative of dojo practice, but we must be careful not to be under the illusion that they are intended to represent practical self-defence techniques.
At some stage in our aikido practice I believe we should seriously address the intrinsic effectiveness of technique. This entails tori assuming complete control of the tori/uke interaction from the initial contact right through to technique completion. In effect, tori must destabilise uke on first contact and maintain this destabilisation throughout the interaction. If at any stage uke is able to regain stability, he/she has the potential to make the technique fail.
The late Stanley Pranin once said in one of his many excellent articles something to the effect that if uke has the choice about how to take ukemi, then perhaps tori is not sufficiently in control. It follows that we must be acutely aware of uke’s state of stability at the same time as we perform the actions required of the technique. This significantly increases the complexity of practice but it also dictates how uke takes ukemi by removing her choices.
So how do we achieve this continuous control? It certainly requires a good knowledge of how to initiate and maintain uke in a state of unbalance, that is, how to identify and use kuzushi gawa – instability places. It is not sufficient to merely unbalance uke. Rather, uke must be prevented from being able to move freely to regain balance. We must somehow restrict uke’s freedom to move to a place of stability. Often this can be achieved by incorporating a downward component to the direction tori intends to project or control uke.
For example, with ryote dori tenchi nage, directing uke immediately down and to the side will restrict uke’s ability to take a stabilising step, whereas directing uke rearwards initially, and then down, might allow uke to take a stabilising step.
Another possibility is to stretch uke’s upper body in such a way that it effectively prevents her from being able to maintain stability. For example, in shiho nage uke can be stretched and directed such that most of her body weight is on one leg.
Continuous, unbroken control also requires an immediate 
connection with uke, that is, the establishment of musubi. If uke is able to retract her attacking arm, or release her grip once initial contact has been established, then again she has a certain amount of freedom of action. Consequently, it may be necessary to capture uke’s arm, as soon as contact is established, rather than just maintaining light contact with it. Again the emphasis is on tori maintaining control of uke rather than expecting uke to maintain contact with tori irrespective of its necessity or lack of.
For example, in performing the initial entry for yokomen uchi Ikkyo, extending your arm as shown on
the right is not likely to prevent uke from quickly retracting her arm, even if she is off-balance. Why should she leave her arm extended to the side like this, even for an instant? So, tori’s interception must immediately capture her arm at the wrist to prevent her from withdrawing it and from regaining stability. Tori must anchor uke to himself, and thus joined, they should move as one, tori leading the movement and uke, bound to tori, following.
For me, musubi is an essential element of the tori/uke interaction; without musubi technique can become a struggle requiring tori to completely dominate uke; with musubi there should be no struggle and instead two bodies move together as one.
It should be possible for every technique in the aikido repertoire to be performed in such a way that uke never regains stability once it has been lost. However, the more convoluted the technique, the more difficult it becomes to achieve this aim. Consequently, short, rapid techniques are often the most effective.
In conclusion I should say this: The pragmatic nature of the form of practice in which emphasis is placed on complete control of uke tends to limit aikido’s characteristic big, flowing movements, replacing them with short, effective actions that make elegant ukemi almost impossible. Because uke will be unstable, often balanced on one leg, her ukemi will generally be quite untidy, not resembling the usual ukemi forms that are practised solo. For this reason I feel that this form of practice should be balanced by the more traditional form that allows uke to perform very free ukemi, which has its own benefits, not the least of which is the exhilaration of fast, dynamic, energetic practice.