About

Hiroshi Sugiyama spent eight years teaching at a large commercial studio in Niigata before he got tired of the production-line approach to dance education. Classes of 30, a new face every week, and a curriculum that never changed because changing it was too much admin. He left in the spring of 2017 and spent three months converting a second-floor space in Chuo-ku into something smaller and more deliberate. Urban Sparrow opened that September with two classes, twelve students, and a playlist Hiroshi had been building for years.

The name came from watching sparrows in the city. They are not impressive birds. They do not migrate to exotic places or have elaborate plumage. They just move with complete confidence in whatever space they find themselves in. That felt like the right idea for a studio. Not training people to perform on a stage, but helping them feel at home in their own bodies in any room they walk into. The first year was tight financially, and Hiroshi nearly took on a second job in January 2018. He didn't, and by spring the word-of-mouth had started to work.