Last year, dance and vocal unit EXILE announced they would be opening a new branch of EXPG in New York. EXPG (EXILE Professional Gym) is a dance and vocal school run by LDH. Many currently debuted artists were former EXPG students such as EXILE’s NAOKI and SHOKICHI; Momoiro Clover Z‘s Ariyasu Momoka and GENERATION‘s Sekiguchi Mendy. The first school was started in Tokyo back in 2003. However it has now grown to 9 branches around Japan, 1 branch in Taipei, Taiwan and the newest one to be in New York City. This is no surprise as this is where many members of EXILE got their roots such as USA (37) and MAKIDAI (38). Leader and head of LDH, HIRO (45) often went through the streets of Harlem, Bronx and Queens for inspiration, himself back in the early 90s.

To find out more about the school, read more below:

Recently they have updated the website of the New York branch with the location of the school. Previously, the only information provided was an introduction:

Welcome to our website!
We are proud to announce that we will be opening up EXPGdance studio this summer in New York City
which would be the first and the only dance studio for Street Dance.
EXPG NYC will be our 11th studio and we are honored and very excited to have this opportunity to provide our services in such a dynamic city.
Our entire staff here at EXPG are extremely talented and experienced and we are sure that our studio can provide the best program for your successful future.
This is the studio for Street Dance and we welcome you to EXPG!

The school currently 31 dance instructors with experience in varying forms of dancing. These include Hip Hop, Choreo Hip Hop, Lite Feet, House, Pop, Lock, Break, African, Wack, Vouge and NY Hustle. Thus showing the diversity of street dancing. While EXPG is a Japanese school, all of the instructors for NY branch are all home grown talent with years of experience under their belt.

The opening of the school coincides with the joint avex group and EXILE project, “GLOBAL JAPAN CHALLENGE”. It has the slogan “to bring forth strong artists made in Japan who has the ability to be active worldwide.” It’s target group were male vocalists and dancers between their 4th year of elementary school and their 3rd year of middle school. Successful candidates are currently in New York, studying for a period of 3 years. Afterwards they will start their activities in Japan and other parts of Asia

True enough, nothing in life is free as seen below for the EXPG prices. However compared to the $250 a month + $300 admission fee + $20 ID card that students in Japan currently pay, it doesn’t seem so bad. (All prices in USD)

• 1 class | $20 (30 day expiration)
• 5 classes| $90 (30 day expiration)
• 10 classes | $160 (60 day expiration)
• Membership (8 classes per month) | $120 per month+ $100 admission fee

If you wish to contact EXPG NY for me information, feel free to use the contact information on this page. So far they appear to be filming a promotion video for the new branch. Check out their website here!