Which Styles - Body Control and Fight

[Exydian]

Hello,

I just moved to NYC from Australia where I studied various martial arts. I have made my decision and want to learn proper Kung Fu. What I would love is to train two different styles, one focusing on body control and great forms/weapons (internal/external?) and the other concentrating on usability and effectiveness in a real combat situation (linear/circular? emperor's fist? jet kine do?). What is your opinion?

Which styles and schools in the New York area can you recommend? What about the Leung Ting System Wing Tsun school in Manhattan? Is the style worth recommending? What about the Bow Law school? My priority is not a fancy school with shiny uniforms but to study hard and learn the real deal! What's the secret tip for NYC?

It would be great if you guys could give a newbie some expert advice as to what the best choice of style is, for each of the areas mentioned.

Appreciate your help!!
Marco

[BlueTravesty]

as far as I know, the Bow Law school has Tak Wah Eng as its master, and from what I've heard, he's got some cred. Don't know if that helps :)

[WanderingMonk]

giving a plug for lkfmdc (Sifu Ross), lama, clf, hung gar, xing yi, etc. teaches cma concept using the san shou (free sparring format).

http://www.sandatrainingsystems.com/

if his school is close, you should definitely investigate. the first lesson is "FREE".

http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/kingofsanda/nysgindex.html

[IronFist]

Wait, you moved to USA from Australia? Dude, you're going to get so many chicks with that accent...

[SevenStar]

yeah, American chicks dig an accent.

[Fu-Pow]

In a strange twist of events I also might be moving to NYC. See ya soon Ross! ;)

[Din Gao]

Avoid bo law and save yourself the aggravation. If you heart is set on kung fu and you want to fight here are a couple of schools you might want to check out:

Kwong Man Fong - Pak Mei, those guys fight and the style is supposed to be internal/external
Yip Wing Hong - Dragon, similar to Pak Mei
Bond Chan - Hsingyi & Bagua

[norther practitioner]

NYC has no shortage of good cma...

anywho, you shouldn't have to train two different systems to do that...

I'd recommend what we always recommend here, go take a free class if they offer it, be warey of long contracts, and don't get too mystified. In regards to the bo law thing.. well, there have been some interesting threads here about that place, however, it isn't coming up with the search funtion right now...


Good luck.

[bong]

http://www.futsaoyongchunkuen.com/

Go see Sifu James Cama.

He has great skill in a Nan Quan arts.

[Raiyden]

http://www.northernmantis.com

This school teaches Seven-Star Mantis (Brendan Lai Lineage) and Taiji Mantis (Chiu Chuk Kai Lineage) Kungfu in midtown. I'd like to add it the list here. They don't teach sample classes but you can watch the beginner/intermediate classes - and before you join you have to be interviewed by Mr. Chuy. He teaches every class, beginners too.

Do avoid Bo Law if you can. There is a lot of CMA in NYC, and here are some things to look at -

1) secretive schools - schools that refuse to tell you the style they teach. That's just BS.

2) the 'dance' schools - all they teach you are forms - there will be no conditioning, 2 man drills, etc - be especially careful here with Tai Chi schools that never teach you how to fight with the style.

3) fake lineage schools - Though being in a genuine kungfu lineage doesn't necessarily mean that the school is any good the ones constructing faked lineages should ring some alarm bells.

4) traditional vs mixed - Are they teaching in a traditional fashion? More modern format? Do you even care?

5) Does the Sifu teach the class or do students? Do you even care?


I'm sure the othere here have more points to ponder.