1. How did you first discover West Coast Swing, and what drew you to become a West Coast Swing DJ?
- Hi everyone, I’m Jas (which is short for the French “Jacinthe”, you get extra points if you can pronounce that correctly). I started WCS in 2016, mainly as a follower, and I’ve been DJing since 2019.
- I first discovered WCS back in 2006, I saw a video that looked to me like hip hop partner dancing and I was hooked! It took me way too many years after that to actually start dancing it though, but I’m never going back 😊
- I think DJing happened pretty instinctively for me. When I started WCS I created huge WCS playlists, I would listen to them every day, share them with my friends and always be on the lookout for new songs. And then I was at an event where participants were asked if we wanted to try out DJing for a short set… HELL YEAH I DO. And again, I’m never going back!
2. Give us a glimpse of your musical library! Which styles influence your taste the most?
- I'd say my baseline for WCS is fresh joyful pop. One of my latest discovery in that category is Ex I never had by LANY
- If you listen to one of my sets you'll also hear a lot of influences from hip hop and electro, and often a mix of several styles. Especially if it’s intricate! (Issa Bounce - UpsideDown). You might also hear some Latin rhythms (Papa - Sickotoy).
- I also love “cloudy” songs, like anything by Emma Peters
3. Can you share a particularly memorable or interesting experience you've had as a West Coast Swing DJ, and how did you handle it?
- It wasn’t a situation I had to “handle” but it was definitely memorable: I recently DJed at SwingIn Festival in Bonn (you can check out my set here), I was having a great time playing for that crowd, and the song 2002 by Anne-Marie was on. Towards the end of the song, when it’s repeating “On the day we fell in love” a couple of friends started singing the “Ooh-oh ooh-oh” very loudly (and badly). And it propagated. A lot. By the end of the song, I had an entire room singing at the top of their lungs “Ooh-oh ooh-oh” on repeat and laughing out loud.
- It was so much fun! It’s not always easy detecting if the dancers enjoy the music, but that one felt like a pretty clear sign of them having a good time! It felt great, thinking that my choice of music made them feel playful enough to get into a collective stupid joke. We figured that’s how the “echo” thing (Us - Movement) started: an inspired DJ, a room in a good mood, and a few loud idiots!
4. What advice would you give to someone who's just starting out as a West Coast Swing DJ?
- Take a lot of time beforehand to have a lot of preparation. There are many different ways to manage your music library and your playlists for a party, you’ll probably try out a few before finding what works best for you (I’m still experiencing with those). But at least for the first few times, I would encourage you to have a playlist ready before the beginning of your set, and also have some back-up songs to adapt your playlist while playing it if needed.
- Today I still work kind of like this: before a set, I prepare an extra long playlist (2 or 3 times the length of the set), and during the set I mostly cut out the songs that I don’t think would fit the current mood on the floor. Sometimes I add a few songs from my library, that are already sorted out by genre / energy / time of night / whatever category feels relevant.
- Of course that’s what works for me, and I know a lot of DJs just create their set on the spot. Maybe you’ll end up feeling better without preparation, but I think it will be more reassuring for you to have something prepared at the start.
5. Outside of West Coast Swing DJing, what are some of your other interests or hobbies that help inspire your music selection or style?
- Well, I might sound monomaniac, but DANCE DANCE DANCE!
- I was lucky enough to start dancing at a very young age and to experience many different styles of dances, from contemporary to breakdancing, hip hop, jazz, reggaeton… This means that whatever music I listen to, my body has learned a way to move to it. And WCS is amazing in the sense that it can incorporate elements of most other dancing styles or adapt to most music styles. All my life when people asked me what kind of music I liked my answer was “whatever I like dancing to”. Now whenever I hear a new song, I’m subconsciously dancing to it. If I like the imaginary dance in my head, I’ll shazaam the hell out of that song and play it in my next set!
6. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our audience about yourself or your journey as a West Coast Swing DJ?
- I guess the main challenge on my journey as a WCS DJ is finding the right balance between what I want to play and what others want to dance to. I love intricate music with lots of tiny little accents here and there, or with tricky rhythms, or with very high energy but very low tempo. And I’m very aware that those can drive people away from the dance floor pretty fast, especially if there are less experienced dancers in the room, who usually won’t be at ease with those. Luckily if a song is too difficult, my life partner is always very helpful in telling me “people are gonna throw things at you if you play that at a party”, so that helps me make the cut!
- Sharing your music with someone else can feel like you’re inviting them into your world, and playing a set for tens or hundreds of people can feel like you’re trying to bring them all in your bubble. It’s tricky because we all have different tastes, sometimes people won’t like your music and that’s okay, it’s our job to adapt. But when it clicks, it’s an amazing feeling.
7. Lastly, share with us any upcoming events or projects that you're excited about!
- It looks like a few things are changing for the better in WCS DJing right now, including with this group. We’re getting to know and learn from each other, there’s more and more talk about the place that DJs should have in events (should the dancers be informed on who’s playing when, etc), about what type of music dancers want to hear… I’m hoping that some day DJs will have a more important place in an event’s organization, and dancers might decide to attend an event because of the DJ team, and not just dancing pros.
- And I see a lot of new DJs coming up, including a few French DJs getting more and more traction, which I’m very happy about!
- Thanks to the Westie DJ Guild team of you for your work on this project, can’t wait to see what you bring up next! And thank you so much for having me 😊
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