DJ Skills for Conscious Dance Teachers

March 1 - April 12, 2025

Make your music just as powerful as your teaching.

 

You’ve already poured tons of sweat and tears into thousands of hours of training and teaching.

You know how to hold powerful space, navigate the nervous system and bring movers through rage and grief into bliss.

But you still don’t have the DJ tech skills to match.

Maybe …

It’s intimidating

You haven’t had time

You don’t know where to start

Or you’ve tried and it made things more complicated!

It’s also totally possible you’ve been doing this well for a while now, and are ready to brush up on your skills while sharing new creative possibilities with your colleagues.

Whether the idea of tech skills triggers excitement, curiosity, desperation or pure terror — they’re likely the key to unlocking the next level of your leadership.

March 1, we start a six week dive into essential and practical skills you can apply to everything you do.

 

What It Looks Like

  • Weekly Step-By-Step Video Tutorials

  • 24/7 Online Community Platform + Tech Support

  • Weekly Live Q+A Calls with Tasha

    • Saturdays at 12pm ET (NYC time)

  • Weekly Live Tech Office Hours with Ziad Saab

    • Timing TBA - will do either 1 or 2 sessions depending on our cohort size

  • Weekly Creative Community Mastermind with Tasha + Nico Allen

    • Tuesdays at 12pm ET

  • Access to the Epic PhDJ Music Library

  • Support + Connection with Your Brilliant Colleagues

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

  • Know Your Context

    The History of DJing

  • WTF do I do with these Buttons?

    Navigating Your Gear

  • The Basics of Mixing

    Seamless transitions with No Sync

  • All the Tricks you Need

    Looping + Effects

  • Music Theory Made Easy

    Song Structure + Phrasing

  • Advanced Blending

    Make Your Sets Sound like BUTTAH

  • Shaking it Up

    Jumping BPMs + Mixing Genres

  • Music Library Organization

    Exactly what you need, when you need it

  • Putting it All Together

    Crafting Sets like a Pro

 

About Your Guide

Hey! I’m Tasha.

Dancing saved my life in 2007, I found the world of conscious dance through 5Rhythms in 2009 and jumped on the teacher training path.

I never imagined I would become a DJ.

DJs were gods to me. Spotlights chose them. 

I was a barefoot dancer in the dark who hoped to someday teach movement. 

When several of my friends suggested I learn to DJ, it didn’t compute. I wasn’t good with tech. I didn’t own a single vinyl record. I wasn’t a dude.

My then-boyfriend traded some old gear for a Traktor DJ controller, brought it home and put it in my lap.

I froze. There were so many buttons. I didn’t know how to do this.

I wanted to exit my skin. 

And I knew enough to know that feeling meant this mattered.

Deep breaths and shaky hands, I leaned in. 

It was like learning to drive a car. Totally overwhelming at first, then one step at a time till you’re on the highway. Once I threw it into fifth gear, I realized I could actually do this. 

It’s vulnerable to want something that’s not guaranteed. 

But I couldn't un-feel the risk my body wanted, and decided to quit saying no to love.

More than a decade later, I’ve played and produced some of the wildest dances on earth. Every photo on this page is us.

From big clubs to barefoot somatic journeys, the skills I’m sharing in this course are the foundation for all of it.

And after more than three years running PhDJ (an 8-month holistic + intensive DJ initiation that integrates everything I learned along the way), I decided to make something for you.

YOU: Who’s already done your ten thousand hours and spent probably at least that many dollars on trainings.

YOU: Who’s already full-on with teaching and doesn’t have or need 8 months of a whole other thing.

YOU: Who’s been making it work with music, but doesn’t feel nearly as confident on the decks as you do in your embodiment.

I want you to know the tech piece doesn’t have to be a struggle. And unlocking it will open new worlds for your leadership, artistry and impact.

Who this is for

  • Trained Movement Facilitators of practices like:

  • 5Rhythms

  • Soul Motion

  • Azul

  • 360 Emergence

  • Movement Medicine

  • Ecstatic Dance

  • Open Floor

  • Biodanza

  • Trance Dance

  • ETC

  • Somatically trained, nervous system educated practitioners who want to learn to DJ

  • That’s it! This is a specialized training for those who’ve been doing this work to fill in their skills gaps fully and connect with their colleagues in a fun, supportive, loving environment.

My Goals for You

  • Total command of the skills essential for every truly great DJ

  • An unshakeable sense of active connection and collaboration with your conscious dance colleagues around the world

  • Music prep that inspires you and gives you goosebumps

  • Dance floors that blow your mind every time

  • Participants who write you love notes for days after each dance

  • The ability to use not just your tracks, but also your transitions to create intentional energetic changes for your dancers

  • The freedom and flexibility to play what you want without getting trapped in certain genres or BPM ranges

  • No more sacrificing smooth transitions for the right track

  • No more messy transitions or train wrecks

  • No more accidentally dropped momentum

  • No more guesswork

  • No more insecurity

The next time someone asks if you DJ,

your answer is YES.

Our Curriculum

We kick off with an opening call March 1 to introduce the course, orient you to our course platform and get to know each other.

Each week, you’ll receive a new set of video tutorials that take you step by step through the core skills that build your DJ Essentials. You’ll use those videos on your own time, pausing as needed to put it all into practice.

Throughout the week, you’ll have 24/7 access to your community, our team and lots of support through our online platform on Circle.

We’ll host at least one weekly live Tech Office Hours lead by our tech support maestro Ziad Saab — king of holding a regulated nervous system whilst troubleshooting the impossible.

For those ready to get inspired, we’ll also host a weekly skillshare session cohosted by me + 5Rhythms teacher Nico Allen, in which everyone is invited to nerd out, trade learnings and demo their discoveries.

Saturdays, I’ll host a Q+A covering the skills we’ve built that week, with a specific focus on how we integrate and implement those skills into our facilitation.

Here’s the full tutorial curriculum, with plenty of space for emergence based on your questions, discoveries and ideas in all of our live calls.

INTRODUCTION

  • A brief history of DJing (know your role!)

  • What most people think DJing is VS what it ACTUALLY is

  • Choosing the right gear *

SETTING UP

  • Plugging everything in

    • Cables, connections, electricity oh my!

  • Navigating your Settings + Preferences

    • What to change and update right now

    • What you might want to change later

  • Anatomy of a setup

    • Orienting to your gear

    • Which buttons actually matter

  • Downloading music

    • Curated crate of tunes for this course

    • Get comfortable downloading music from the most useful platforms right away

LET’S PLAY!

  • Playing Your First Track

    • Loading

    • Hot Cues

  • Basic Transitions

    • Finding the 1

    • Understanding + fixing your beat grid

    • Manual beat matching (no sync buttons here!)

GO DEEPER

  • Unlocking Music Theory

    • Understand song structure + phrasing across multiple genres

    • Transform how you think about and use music to create powerful mixes

    • Train your ears to know exactly when to mix in + out for maximum effect

    • Turn your transitions into works of art that create exactly the impact you want — whether that’s building energy, catalyzing catharsis, cultivating trance or creating more space.

  • The Art of Blending

    • Understanding 3-band EQ to make your mixes SMOOTH AS BUTTAH

    • Effects: what you need and what you don’t

  • The Magic of Loops

    • Your secret weapon for mixing in phrase, extending edits, effortless intros and playful surprises

  • Jumping BPMs

    • How to go from 70 to 130, 120 to 150 (etc) without missing a beat

    • Know when you don’t actually need to beat match … and when you really should

  • Mixing Genres

    • So you wanna go Dubstep > Drum+Bass > Melodic House > Afro House > Gqom > Grime > Footwork > Hip Hop > Moombahton > Big Room?

    • You can!

    • When it’s a good idea

    • When it’s not

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

  • Integrating all of it into pro-level sets that feel seamless, intentional and intelligent while creating massive impact for your dancers

BONUSES

  • Access to the PhDJ Music Library

  • Harmonic Mixing

  • Building + Organizing Your Music Library

  • PhDJ’s Playing Out Playbook for clubs, festivals and DIY sound setups

  • What to Expect: Prepping for different kinds of sets

  • Bonus Mix Assignments to keep the evolution going

  • DJ Glossary

  • Tasha’s DJ Resource Bible

* We’re teaching this course on Native Instruments’ Traktor product line. Their products are widely used in the conscious dance community, and the most accessible / intuitive industry-standard program out there.

While we also teach on Rekordbox/Pioneer in PhDJ, we’re keeping this program simple with Traktor.

If you’ve already been using Rekordbox/Pioneer and are interested deepening your tech skills with us in this course, shoot us an email at dance@bodylvnguage.com — we can probably make it happen!

MEET THE TEAM

  • Tasha Blank

    Lead Teacher

  • Ziad Saab

    Tech Support

  • Yuri Chu Su

    Operations

  • Nico Allen

    Co-Facilitator

FAQ

  • I designed this course for folks who are already at least semi-hacking it on the decks.

    You’ve probably got a setup and may have been playing tracks for years!

    We start from square one and don’t skip a single step because:

    1) You may be using non-industry standard software like Algoriddim djay Pro or VirtualDJ and switching to Traktor for the first time

    2) You may have accidentally skipped some basics as you were learning on your own or piecing together random YouTube tutorials

    3) You may have picked up some less than helpful habits from other DJ courses, and I want to make sure you’re not making your life harder by doing the wrong things.

    Now, all my past students will attest that I’m rarely a right/wrong thinker. Once you move into the truly advanced and creative aspects of DJing, there’s no right or wrong.

    But when it comes to your essentials, there absolutely is.

    And getting them right will make your life SO much easier.

  • Live Q+A sessions with Tasha are 12-1:30pm ET (NYC time) Saturdays from March 1 - April 12.

    Creative Mastermind hours with Tasha + Nico are Tuesdays at 12pm ET

    Tech Office Hours hours are TBA, and depend on the size + needs of the cohort.

    If you can’t make calls live, there will always be a recording.

  • I (Tasha) will be your primary teacher. The video tutorials that provide the foundation of your learning are 100% taught by me.

    I’ll also lead our Saturday Q+A calls, in which we’ll actively integrate the lessons from the videos into your practice as a DJ and facilitator.

    Throughout the training, I’ll be assisted by PhDJ rockstar graduate and tech maestro Ziad Saab.

    If you’ve got a tech issue during our course, you’ve got a grounded and present tech whiz on your side.

    Ziad came to PhDJ as both a software engineer and engineering teacher who’d been running his own software engineering school for many years.

    It was no surprise when he caught onto DJing right away and quickly became a tech resource for his classmates.

    I brought Ziad onto our team because of his innate ability to figure out seemingly insurmountable tech problems AND because he maintains a very regulated nervous system in the process!

    If you’re one of those folks who get freaked out by tech issues, not only will Ziad help you fix them - he’ll model a new approach

  • All good! Life happens.

    You’ve got access to these materials (tutorials, replays and all resources) as long as there’s an internet to host them, so you can return to them again and again as you evolve and deepen your skills.

    We do recommend attending as many of the live sessions as you’re able, since this will be a very special opportunity to connect with the global conscious dance leadership community.

    There will always be recordings of all our live Q+A sessions and tech office hours for anything you need to miss, and you’ll keep ongoing access to those as well.

    You’ll also have 24/7 access to the community through our course platform on Circle during our time together. This is a perfect place for those who can’t make live calls (and everyone else!) to share wins, ask questions, get support and connect with each other.

  • We won’t let that happen. After three years running live DJ courses, I’ve learned so much about how different folks learn, and what different learning styles and aptitudes need to succeed.

    All of this is integrated into how I teach and how we’ve structured this course.

    I’ve had students who were allergic to tech, got unlucky with computer issues, or hit points where they felt like they’d never get it — and every single one who didn’t give up made it through with flying colors, surprising and delighting themselves in the process.

  • Yes!

    That said, there will be lots of space for emergence as a community around how we talk about it.

    I’m here to make sure you’ve got your essentials DOWN and feel super confident using them to explore new creative possibilities.

    You’ll also be in a container with many incredible colleagues.

    Since it’s rare that we get to come together in this way, refine our skills and be inspired by each other, you’ll also have lots of time and space to mastermind, explore and share your creative breakthroughs, ideas, tricks and learnings.

  • Great! Email us at dance@bodylvnguage.com.

When you DJ, you’re not just dropping beats.

You’re shifting human physiology.

It’s not just what you play — but how you play it. The way we wield the decks can establish safety, build connection, unwind tension, liberate blocked emotions and bring everyone into the belonging we all need.

Knowing how to confidently weave sound is key when it comes to creating the conditions for ecstasy.

Few other vocations can change every molecule in a space and transform so many people at once.

This is your moment to fully own it.