Storm Niels Robitzky

Niels "Storm" Robitzky is a German dancer, choreographer, judge, and educator who has shaped European hip-hop dance for over four decades. Born July 31, 1969, in northern Germany, Storm began dancing in 1983, teaching himself breaking, locking, and popping through broadcasts, films, jams, and peer exchange at a time when sustained access to hip-hop culture in Europe was limited. In 1987, he recorded a windmill achievement in Eckernförde. His early competitive work with Battle Squad culminated in the group winning Battle of the Year in 1991, and in 1992, Storm and Swift returned as a two-person unit to win the international event that year, when Storm also won an IDO breakdance world championship.

After settling in Berlin in 1993, Storm expanded his practice beyond the cipher and battle floor. He hosted and edited the VIVA hip-hop program *Freestyle* from 1993 to 1995, bringing breaking and related forms to television audiences. In 1996, he founded The Storm & Jazzy Project with Nathalie "Jazzy Lee" Robitzky, a company dedicated to bringing hip-hop-rooted movement into theatre and festival contexts. His choreographic works include *Dynamite* (1997), *Funky Town* (1998), *X-Pos-Yos-Elf* for the Expo 2000 opening ceremony in Hanover, and *Solo for Two* (2001), created for Suresnes Cités Danse, which subsequently toured internationally. In 1998, he won Freestyle Session 3 with Flying Tortillas.

Throughout his career, Storm has participated in international cultural exchange, collaborating with artists and companies in Brazil, Ivory Coast, Vietnam, and other countries through networks supported by the Goethe-Institut. Alongside performance and choreography, he has worked as a battle judge and head judge at major competitive events including Battle of the Year, Freestyle Session, and Red Bull BC One, as well as serving as head judge for breaking at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. This work on judging frameworks and competitive systems has made him significant not only as a mover but as a participant in how hip-hop dance knowledge is named, evaluated, debated, and transmitted. In 2011, he presented and discussed his practice at La Biennale di Venezia's Arsenale della Danza.