This school is tucked away on a second floor. You could probably go by it on the #2 bus and not even realize it is there. But once you find out about it, what you find is a martial art school with a large area for training with pretty reasonably cheap prices - sometimes half of what some other schools charge. \r
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If you're looking for the usual karate black-belt-in-a-year place, you won't like it here. It's run by a husband/wife team. The guy's a 4th degree Shaolin/Kung Fu black belt - master ranking, and, his wife teaches Tai Chi, and a few classes are taught by another black belt or assistant instructors. The Tai Chi isn't the usual zone-out just for relaxation, it's got that, but they also teach the more martial side of Tai Chi, so that's a bit unusual. The Kung Fu is also a bit unusual because a lot of kung fu schools don't let their students fight in martial art tournaments, but these folks do. \r
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The pros on them: most of their classes run for 2 hours so you can get a lot done in a class, small groups so you usually get a lot of personal attention, small monthly tuition, good reputation in tournaments, huge space, and they're one of the few schools around teaching Kung Fu and Tai Chi. Neither of them try to teach the other's material either, so they avoid the jack-of-all-trades thing that I seen at a couple other places. They got a pretty decent website, PhiladelphiaKungFu dotcom (but they don't always update it right away). \r
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The cons on them: they're pretty much only there when their teaching class, so expect to get a tape machine when you call. They don't have a receptionist, so it sometimes takes a few days for them to get back to you. I guess it's part of the tradeoff for low cost tuition. They also don't take credit cards, just cash or check.
Pros: personalized instruction, small classes, Kung Fu and Tai Chi in same location
Cons: Hard to spot first time going by, it's on 2nd floor; space doesn't look "snazzy" - just comfortable
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