Rather than a simple, artistic rendering, Storm has opted for recounting the history of hip-hop in a highly original way, bringing together eight dancers from Paris, Berlin and Perpignan for a collective project: "The Art of Urban Dance" goes back in time to explore the form's different stylistic influences. In a deliberatively didactic mise en scène Storm, from a screen in the background, comments on his lesson and interrogates his dancers. The dancers, in a choreography coupled with a projection directed by Herman Haag, illustrate the origins, inspirations and distinctions between the four best-known urban dance styles: locking, popping, bboying and housedance. All complex modes the dancers have worked on over the last twenty years. A combination of the playful and the educational, this show has been acclaimed around the world. As the members of the collective put it, «The moves, energy, attitude and grace of these styles speak for themselves. Our hope is to communicate something of the magic spark, the fascination we felt when we saw these dances for the first time.»
Source : Press book, Biennale de la Danse 2006

Niels Robitzky, alias Storm, was born in northern Germany. A self-taught hip-hop dancer, he began touring the world with his group Battle Squad, making his stage debut in 1992–95 with another group, Ghettoriginal. Settling in Berlin in 1993, he founded The Storm & Jazzy Project company in 1996 with Nathalie “Jazzy Lee” Robitzky. In the following years their original dance performances were a feature of the European theatre and festival scene. Among Storm's many choreographic works is X-Pos-Yos-Elf, composed for the Expo 2000 opening ceremony in Hanover. He works regularly with directors like Alain Milianti (Le Festin), hip-hop dancers, musicians such as Ray Lema and choreographers from Brazil, Ivory Coast and many other countries. Since 2000, he has been touring and working on international artistic development projects with the Goethe Institute network and France's cultural centres around the world. Thus in 2001 he collaborated with the Brazilian company Discípulos do Rítmo on Ta Limpo, which toured in Argentina and Europe. It was in the same year that he decided to take a look at himself, the result being "Solo For Two" at the Suresnes Cités Danse festival, just outside Paris. Since then the piece has been presented in various European countries as well as in Latin America, Asia, Australia and North America. In 2003 he joined forces with Pyro, a company that includes his French partners Kane-Wüng and Nasty, to create "Slippin' & Slidin'", a combination of hypertechnical dance and video. In 2003 he directed eight dancers from three European countries in the collectively devised Art of Urban Dance, a mix of virtuosity and the instructive that has already been seen in Holland, Germany, and France, and has toured in Vietnam, Egypt and the Near East. After the new work Virtuelevation, Storm will be back with Discípulos do Rítmo in São Paulo for Geometronomics, scheduled to tour in Germany and Holland in March–April 2006. In 2010 he starred in the dance movie "Berlin dance Battle 3d" and played himself.

Sources : Biennale de la Danse pres file ; Stormdance 's website

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Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon