How much do martial arts classes cost?
You’ll find considerable variation, based on location and whether the school is a commercial one or not. A commercial dojo (meaning the owner is trying to make a living at it) in an upscale neighborhood might charge over $100/month, in addition to tacked on membership fees & belt testing fees. A class taught out of a community center in a poorer neighborhood, run by a teacher who just wants to share his knowledge and cover expenses, might only charge $30/month with no additional fees. (In my area, most schools would fall in-between those extremes.) If your local community college offers the classes you are interested in, that can be an excellent deal. In general, price does not particularly correlate to the quality of the instruction, although it may relate to the niceness of the facilities. Also, the style of martial art does not typically make much difference in the price of instruction. BTW – I’ll have to strongly disagree with Shane’s assertion that you need to find an old Chinese
In that time, there have been plenty of non-Chinese who have progressed to a very high level in those arts. Yeah, but try finding a ‘white guy’ to teach you all the self-defense applications of a tai chi form. Hell, the Chinese instructors often don’t even teach them, they just occasionally show a move here or there, and they teach tai chi for health and relaxation. Sometimes it’s tough to find a white teacher who actually has chi and can use it, and doesn’t just have physical grace. Anyway, not to sound all Confucian-kitsch, but everyone finds their way to wherever it is they’re going. Forget I said anything.
Shane – “…apples-to-oranges with where I’m coming from. What I said about tai chi is good advice…You may certainly assume that I am an idiot, having never attended a formal school nor received a belt.” Tai Chi is not an art where belt ranks are normally used, so your lack of a belt rank is immaterial. Likewise, one-on-one training is certainly as good as training in a formal school, so your experience is certainly valid. However, just because you had good experiences learning from an old Chinese guy who teaches in the back of his shop, doesn’t mean others can’t learn just as much from a middle-aged Irishman (or whoever). “Yeah, but try finding a ‘white guy’ to teach you all the self-defense applications of a tai chi form.” 90% of the tai chi teachers out there (Chinese or not) do not even purport to teach the self-defense applications of the tai chi form. Of those that do purport to teach those applications, 90% (Chinese or not) don’t have a real clue about how it applies to the re
Ideally, especially for Tai Chi and Kung Fu, you should find… aw, jeez, you’ll never find what you should find, but he should be an older Chinese guy, unassuming and humble looking, who left China for Taiwan or Hong Kong (and eventually America or Canada) when China cracked down on its martial artists… maybe an old fellow with a Chinese curio shop that sells trinkets and slippers and tea. He should teach out of the back of the shop. You know? He should charge probably between $12 and $20 (USD) per lesson these days, I’d say closer to $12, maybe $15. You’d start off going once a week, then twice a week if you really get into it. When you start talking to him and asking about his art, if he likes you maybe he’ll ask you to play a game of Go. No, really. I’m not kidding. I don’t know. Do you know anyone whose judgement you trust who is active in your local martial arts circles? They really are circles, and someone who knows the local characters can tell you which teachers have somethi
jeremias, whatever martial art you’re into is obviously apples-to-oranges with where I’m coming from. What I said about tai chi is good advice, if you’re looking for something very specific. I’ve just been privileged to know some… gifted people, who even then managed to teach me very little due to my lack of discipline and laziness. I really don’t want this to degenerate into a pissing match between styles and personal experiences that are possibly not even proper to compare. You may certainly assume that I am an idiot, having never attended a formal school nor received a belt. I will think none the less of you should you adopt this opinion of me, and I would even encourage you to think thus and to ignore me, especially as I will say no more foolishness.
