digital artwork by sophie spiral (2024)
In 2022, I started learning to DJ. To be a good DJ, you have to know how to make smooth transitions from one song to the next in order to make one cohesive track. Since I enjoy a range of sound textures, I've been learning how to mix songs of diverse genres. If we think about each song as a moment in time, with unique social and cultural associations, then we can imagine what role DJ expertise can play in transforming our cultures.
In order to become a DJ, like any artist, it takes lots of practice. My art teacher once told me you have to do something for 1000 hours before you can consider yourself an expert. Even just after two years, I can already begin to see the complexity and skill it takes to make smooth transitions. And it's not just DJs, I have deep respect for the ways in which choreographers, dancers, musicians, and performance artists of all kinds magically create smooth and curated transitions as well as the community that they bring together with their craft.
DJs are crafting not only transitions from one stage to the next, but they are really creating journeys that take an audience from one state of being to another. A well-designed set will get a room full of people inspired, dancing, sweating, and if it’s really amazing, then you feel transformed by the end of it. What if DJs could guide us on such a path of social transformation? I guess I’m writing this mini essay to say that they already are. How can we find the words to acknowledge and describe this labor of love?
The research program where I am currently writing my PhD focuses on the role that arts play in transforming our societies. Of course, there are limitations and ways that we romanticise the impact of art as activism. As a collaborative research center, we are critically engaging with artistic practices of all kinds that aim to intervene in the colonial, capitalist and heteronormative status quos. My focus is on dance practices, in particular ecosomatic practices that are connecting people with the Earth in sensory and embodied ways. When looking at the scary reality of the climate crisis, I find that I need to imagine how this urgent call for help is also bringing humans deeper into connection with each other and the Earth.
This is where my curiosity about transitions is helpful. How can we transition away from exploitative, oppressive and greedy regimes towards regenerative systems where justice, rest, pleasure, and celebration are the top priorities? Like a DJ mixing fluently from one track to the next, how can we make this transition feel good in the body? How can we make the transition groovy and fun? How can we be okay with the discomfort of a BPM that's slightly off? What dance cultures can help to embrace polyrhythms of transcultural identities as a way to value human migration? Music is one of the ways to connect to this essence of who we are as fleshy souls, and it’s also a way for us to come together in appreciation of our differences as complex layers of sound.
Thanks to all the DJs out there who are leading the way as transition experts! I call on you to be consider the potential for social change within your offerings!
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