95% of martial arts studios in America are purely commercial: basically a Bally's with sparring gloves and gi's. Hardcore traditional schools are very selectiv

95% of martial arts studios in America are purely commercial: basically a Bally's with sparring gloves and gi's. Hardcore traditional schools are very selective in who they allow to train there or will often utilize a "weed out" strategy on newcomers (I've heard that Gracie BJJ schools are notorious for this). A Wing Chun school I was interested in made me go through two interviews before they decided that I would be allowed to train there if I chose to. Because of its dance-like movements, Capoeira is often marketed as "yoga meets breakdancing meets pilates meets tae-bo" in order to attract women, which is probably what your local studio is doing.