Academy of Martial Arts

Academy of Martial Arts is a Santa Cruz school focused on traditional Chinese martial and internal arts. Guided by head instructor Ted Mancuso and shaped by contributions from numerous accomplished teachers, the academy emphasizes lineage-based practice, historically rooted methods, and arts that remain uncommon in the Western martial arts world. Its training integrates physical method with internal cultivation, treating Qigong as an essential part of authentic practice, teaching Bagua Zhang with attention to its full complexity, and approaching Tai Chi as a true martial art with both health and advanced technical dimensions. The school maintains a rigorous adult curriculum that rejects simplified, mass-market instruction in favor of long-form, disciplined study.