Tony Orlando Little

The Snake Style

Tony Orlando Little was born in April 1962 and has devoted his life to the internal martial arts since 1976. His primary style is the Snake Style — the sleek, fluid foundation upon which his mastery of Shaolin's Five Animal Styles was built. The snake embodies precision, patience, and the channeling of internal force — qualities that have defined Tony's entire martial path.

What began as a shared passion between Tony and his cousin, Johnny Thomas Stroud, Jr., grew into decades of training and mutual mastery — the two trained and taught one another across the years. That bond of kinship and discipline forged the foundation of everything Tony would go on to build.

Tony's immersion in Chinese culture ran far deeper than the martial arts. He holds the distinction of being the first Black man to learn Chinese cuisine from the Head Chef of the renowned South Seas Restaurant. Living alongside his Chinese coworkers, Tony embraced their language and customs — learning to speak and write Chinese, building a bond of culture and brotherhood that shaped the man he became.

When Johnny entered the United States Army (1980–1983), Tony carried the work forward, opening and teaching at two schools simultaneously in Connecticut. He also gave back to his community, teaching through New Haven's "Q House" Community Outreach on Dixwell Avenue — bringing the internal arts to those who needed them most.

Over decades of studying Shaolin's Five Animal Styles, Tony became fascinated by the sleek, silent precision of the common domestic cat. After years of studying feline movement, he refined an original fighting system he calls Cat Style — a method that channels the internal power of Chi through the supple, patient delivery of a cat's hunting techniques.

Since 1995, Tony has lived in Winter Park, Florida, where he continues to teach while living with his son, Tony Jr., as a single father. The work continues — as it always has.