“A landmark documentary...delineates how virtuosity becomes identity”
- Debra Cash, NPR/WBUR
Conrad "SP" Rochester
Conrad “SP” Rochester is a self-taught freestyle dancer, a father, performer, teacher, manager, and in the last five years, “the man who knows everybody,” promoter/producer of “The Funk Box, NYC #1 Dance Party” where the Househeads gather.
A native of NYC’s Lower East Side, Rochester learned from and was inspired by other great urban dancers, and by watching martial arts flicks. He was a highly respected B-boy battler of the crews Fresh 14 and Rockwell Crew. But, when he was 17, he went to the Garage and then to the Loft, and his life changed. He shifted over to House. A master of the difficult transitional “flow” and seamlessly merging one move into another, Rochester is respected for his cat-like grace and daring power moves. “SP” (his honorary nickname) alludes to his ability to “slow play” and the famous “split pants,” worn by him and passed on to him by other great House elders.
Like all good dancers, Rochester often dedicates his dancing to a person or a group, which gives a serious emotional overlay to his performance and is described by him in Check Your Body at the Door. He has appeared in films "Wild Style," "Maestro," Niles Ford's dance-umentary "In Search of the Invisible People," and James "Cricket" Coulter's “Astral Kinetic Urban Project.” He also performed with the Dance Warriors Project, Vissi Dance Company, Louie Vega, Mr. V, Mrs. Patty, The Martinez Brothers, The Legendary House of Ninja among many others. Dedicated to the preservation and future of the art of House dance/music he founded “All Urban Freestyle Dance, Inc.,” a freestanding organization dedicated to the education/documentation of urban dance culture.
Currently he is also teaching in addition to his producing, and, he is the father of a new baby girl.
