SHIFT
SHIFT
SHIFT
Popping is a dance style that emerged in the US during the 1960s and 1970s. At the height of funk music, the Oakland Boogaloo dance style developed in African American neighborhoods. Even in its early days, it combined fluid and mechanical, highly isolated movements—laying the foundation for what we now know as popping.
The Hesse-based collective SHIFT (comprising Angelo Berber, Artur Grabowski, and Gerbert Roitburd) is deeply engaged with this unique movement language. In 2026, they will roll out a decentralized program focused on nurturing emerging talent and facilitating intergenerational knowledge exchange. The agenda includes a residency with a public showing (dramaturgical support by Sām Sabor), a summit, artistic documentation, and labs. These events will take place in Frankfurt as well as smaller towns like Friedberg, Bad Nauheim, and Gießen. Solidarity-based ticketing ensures accessible participation for all.
Jury statement
With “SHIFT”, the jury has selected a project that understands movement not only as a choreographic form of expression, but also as cultural memory, dialogue, and a unifying force across generations and spaces. Emerging from a vibrant training practice, “SHIFT” develops a decentralized year-long program that synchronizes urban and rural communities, showcasing Popping as an independent artistic language with its own history, attitude, and responsibility.
The jury was particularly impressed by the project’s strong integration of OGs – representatives of the old-school generation – as cultural bearers whose knowledge is not preserved in a museum, but actively passed on. “SHIFT” creates formats that foster exchange on equal footing: through residencies, summits, labs, and public events that invite both the scene and the audience to participate. By combining education, artistic research, documentation, and equitable access, the project demonstrates structural thinking and social awareness.
“SHIFT” exemplifies the mission of Next Steps: to enable artistic development while revealing the direction of the dance scene – networked, politically engaged, intergenerational, and deeply rooted in practice.