Programs

EducationMusic

DJ Camp 2018

11 Jun 2018 – 14 Jun 2018

Free

DJ Camp 2018. Photo by Rowdy Lee Dugan.

Summer Shake Up

DJ Bigface | Si Mon Cecilia Emmett

Ballroom joined forces with Summer Shake Up, offered by Marfa ISD in collaboration with other community partner organizations for DJ Camp 2018. The summer camp was free with breakfast, lunch, and transportation to/from MISD provided. Students grades five through eight were invited to participate.

For our eighth annual DJ Camp Ballroom Marfa welcomed DJ Bigface, Si Mon Cecilia Emmett of the Chulita Vinyl Club and Isaac Iskra to the Big Bend to offer essential guidance in real-live party-rocking skills. Students learned directly on DJ equipment and experimented with mixing songs and sampling music. The classes were designed to engage the imagination of students from all musical backgrounds. While getting practical experience on the equipment was a core component of the camp, Bigface, Si Mon and Isaac Iskra also presented DJing and breakdance as an art form with a rich culture and history, with portions of each class covering the history of DJ culture, music collectives and basic music theory.

Instructor Bios

DJ Bigface

Bigface served as the teacher at the inaugural Ballroom DJ Camp in 2010, sharing the knowledge he’s gained through years as a music educator at Austin’s DJ Dojo. Bigface is also known for ambitious parties helmed by DJs and funk bands, and featuring breakdancers, “fire tamers” and acrobats. He was joined by Si Mon of the Chulita Vinyl Club, an all-girl, all-vinyl club for self-identifying women of color and Isaac Iskra, Austin’s premiere breakdancing instructor.

Si Mon Cecilia Emmett

Si Mon is a member of the Chulita Vinyl Club. CVC is made up of women, gender-non-conforming, non-binary, LGBTQ+ and self-identifying people of color. CVC launched in 2014, with the context of providing a safe space for empowerment, togetherness and to utilize music and vinyl as a form of resistance against the erasure of culture. Each Chulita identifies with their own identity.

Images

Acknowledgments

DJ Camp is made possible by the generous support of the Brown Foundation, Inc., Texas Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Ballroom Marfa Board of Trustees and Ballroom Marfa members.

In-kind support provided by Diane Barnes & Jon Otis, the Capri, El Cosmico, Lorna Leedy, Mando’s Restaurant, Marfa Recording Company, and Christy Miller.

Special thanks to DJ Big Face, Rowdy Dugan, Si Mon’ Emmett, Isaac Iskra, Marfa Independent School District, Anne Marie Nafziger, and M.I.S.D. students and their parents.