WAHINE.

Wahine has always been moving with the music, and directing dance floors since 2004.  I distinctly recall wandering into Atlanta’s famed Chaka Khan Hacienda for my first time one lovely Sunday afternoon and instantly hitting it off with the coolest person in the room. We easily slipped into those scene chats that let you know you’ve definitely found your people. Since then, I have loved keeping up with Wahine’s important work in Atlanta that strives to unite dance floors in interesting ways. As she prepares to take on Toronto this December, we chatted again about all things dance and nightlife culture. Get into the world of Wahine!

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DXD: How and where did you get your start in nightlife? 

W: I began my nightlife journey as a life-long dancer and lover of music. When I first started clubbing back in Los Angeles, I was heavily into Jamaican dancehall, but I eventually came to the realization that some of the dancehall lyrics and club culture was extremely homophobic and that didn’t jive with my personal values. 

At that point, I started venturing out to more mainstream nightclubs that played a mix of house, hip-hop, and pop music. At one of these clubs, I met a promoter whom I dated briefly. He was from Hamburg, Germany, and heavily into house music, so he took me to all of the best house clubs within the span of a few weeks – everything from The Palace, a big room spot that played European house and trance on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, to a small afterhours gay deep house event called, “Does Your Mama Know,” at the old Coconut Teaser.

I was completely immersed in all types of house music and fell in love with it from a dance and community aspect. I had studied dance for most of my life, specializing in world dance forms at UCLA, so I had all of these different types of movement in my body that hadn’t found a type of music that brought them all together. The free-form self-expression that is a part of house music culture allowed me to make sense of it all. It made me feel whole. I had actually quit dancing for an entire year prior to that, but dancehall and eventually house brought me back to the dance floor. 

I was a painfully shy person for most of my life up until that point, but the friendly nature of the house community opened me up to making new friends at the club – many of whom remain some of my dearest friends to this day.

My new obsession with house music meant that I was also seeking it out outside of the club. Soon enough, I found myself in the chat rooms of Ministry of Sound Radio where I connected with a global community of house heads from across the US, the UK, and beyond.

DXD: How would you best describe your sound?

W: “Disco in Paradise” – sundrenched and full of world music influences, matching my sunny SoCal seaside upbringing. With me, you’re going to get funky licks spiced with percussive jams, and infectious melodies with equal parts brains and brawn. I’m a pretty optimistic person, so my vibe never gets terribly dark. I lean towards a Balearic style of eclecticism where anything can be dance music, as long as it’s groovy. I also have a tendency towards things that have a cinematic feel to them. I’m big on mood and the visions that music conjures up in my mind.

DXD: You’ve mentioned you are not only a dance lover, but have studied various forms of dance. What did this include and is there a particular dance style you resonate with most?

W: I started out studying jazz in high school and was on the dance team for four years. After that, I attended UCLA where I ended up majoring in World Arts & Cultures, which was formerly known as the Dance Department. I had no aspirations to become a professional dancer, so I studied zero Western styles of dance. Instead, I took advantage of the wealth of world dance forms that my department offered, which included everything from West African, Flamenco, and Bharata Natyam, to Irish Step Dance. 

Although Flamenco was incredibly challenging and led me down a road toward quitting dance for a time, I still feel a deep connection to it. In flamenco, the dancer is the music. A dancer’s foot stomps and claps contribute to the music-making of the ensemble. I also love that it is so ingrained in everyday life. Spontaneous dancing just happens in the homes, streets, and back alleys of Spain on a daily basis. I love the dramatic nature of it: love, longing, heartbreak, joy, and ecstasy are all expressed. Also, it is FUNKY. Each dancer is encouraged to develop their own style and create unique shapes in space. Individual self-expression is valued. Musically, it taught me so much about syncopation. It’s not just about being on the beat, but getting in between the beats and that’s where the funk lives in my opinion.

Flamenco is HARD. It is incredibly intricate and you have to really own it to perform it well, from the curl of your pinky finger to the arch of your eyebrow. I have massive respect for those that can fully embody that style of dance.

DXD: What are some of the core memories of your time in California that formed your approach as a DJ? 

W: I grew up in Redondo Beach, which is about 20 minutes south of LAX, but my parents are from Stockton, which is in northern California, so we would take these long seven hour drives several times a year to visit my grandparents. I remember listening to the mixtapes that my dad compiled. Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan, and Hall & Oates were the soundtrack of my youth. I remember being curled up in the floorboards of our burgundy Cutlass Supreme singing along – before seat belts were required. Soulful vocals, storytelling, and great musicianship were impressed upon me at an early age.

If I look back, I’ve been DJing in some form for a lot longer than I realized. Having access to my dad’s mixtapes and understanding that technology was available to me allowed me to do several things very early on. As a dancer in high school, I had to perform solos under two minutes in length. In those two minutes, it was desirable to have an energy or tempo change, so I remember cutting together a shortened version of Weather Report’s, “Birdland,” with Prince’s, “Baby I’m a Star,” to cassette tape.

But even before that, I made a mixtape for an outing in middle school. If memory serves, there was some early Whitney Houston on there, maybe some New Edition, and Sting. I was always about controlling the vibe and encouraging people to dance.

DXD: You stopped DJing while in California, but luckily for us, you picked it back up after a move to Atlanta. What about the ATL scene at that time inspired your return to the decks? 

W: I took a long 10+ year hiatus from DJing with no intention of returning to it, but coming to Atlanta marked a crossroads for me. I had left a soul-crushing job in the tech startup world and was starting a new life in an unfamiliar city. I was in a desperate search for what was next for me in life. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I always associated Atlanta with music because my husband told me many tales of his rave escapades here in the 90’s. It could also have been the fact that one of the few friends I had here was actually the first promoter to book me for an out-of-state gig (at Winter Music Conference in the mid-2000’s,) and so he introduced me to spots like The Music Room and Wildpitch early on.

I’d say that the big turn for me happened when I started going to Chaka Khan Hacienda, back when it was still at 8Arm. I met the vast majority of the people who would become my closest friends there. Initially, it piqued my interest from the standpoint of wanting to produce events with a diverse mix of music and people – something that I wasn’t seeing anywhere else in the city, and the vibes were unmatched. I didn’t know it at the time, but seeds were being sown in my mind.

DXD: This return was also marked by a submission request from Defected Records, which resulted in you having a spot to play at the highly-esteemed Defected Croatia in August of 2019. Tell us about how that validated your return and the experience itself. 

W: Defected was probably one of the first labels that I started buying as a baby DJ in the early 2000’s and the fact that they are still around 20 years on and have become the juggernaut in the global dance music scene is a testament to Simon Dunmore and the legacy that they have forged for more than two decades. To have just gotten back into DJing a month before the opportunity to submit a mix for the Defected Croatia mix contest opportunity came up in 2019, and then winning the contest and having the opportunity to play at the festival that year just felt like total alignment. I couldn’t have gotten a bigger validation from the Universe that a return to the decks was meant to be.

DXD: When you’re not in the booth, you’re hosting radio shows for Spin City UK and Passion Ibiza Radio. What do you love most about radio spots that you can’t do for a live event?

W: I am such a massive fan of radio. I think it’s such a powerful medium of discovery because it can be such an intimate experience. There’s no one else in the space signaling what’s good. It’s just you and the listener, which means that I get to be really selfish and play what I believe in as a DJ. I’m not there to pack a dancefloor or please a crowd, which means I get to change lanes, tempos, and genres more freely.

I’m also able to reach around the globe through radio. I am probably better known in the UK and Europe than in the US because of the audience of my radio shows. Because of this, I have had the opportunity to connect with and build some really special friendships with fellow DJs, producers, and listeners in other parts of the world. The ability to forge relationships over the distance through music makes this world feel smaller and more connected. 

DXD: You also produce events, including Wahine’s Hideaway, which I have had the immense pleasure to attend. What is your philosophy for the spaces you create compared to others you have played for?

W: My aim with Wahine’s Hideaway is to bring a bit of whimsy and lightness to a space. I have this theory that something happens in people’s brains when they see something slightly out-of-the-ordinary is happening visually. I think it allows people to be more open to new people, experiences, and sounds. I also want to see diversity on the dancefloor, so I am very intentional about the DJs that I book as well. Atlanta’s scene is quite segregated and while I want everyone to have their own space, I also think that there need to be places where we can all come together and celebrate life.

DXD: A natural flow in our industry is to start as a dancer, prove your salt as a DJ, and move forward into producing your own music. What is on the horizon for you in production?

W: To be frank, I’ve really been struggling with a lot of resistance on the production front for several years now. There have been a number of starts and stops, but I really need to get accountable to myself and get back on track with it. Learning new things is hard and I just have to embrace the fact that this is going to suck for a while, but it would be really silly for me to not try. I think I have the ear for it, I just need to bring my technical skills up to the same level.

DXD: A quote from you I enjoy about gender from your 2023 interview with Michele Sensale is:

“This is probably going to sound harsh, but equality in the dance music scene looks like this: When there are as many mediocre women in headliner spots and positions of power within the industry as there are mediocre men, then we will have reached equal status as our male counterparts.” - Wahine

How can we, the dancers, do more to push producers, labels, and gatekeepers to give women and femme folx the same opportunities that have always been extended to cis, white men?

W: Wow! You really did your research and I love this question, so thank you for asking it. 

Dancers have more power than they realize. You have conversations about music with your friends – and undoubtedly some of those people are in the music industry. If you discover a femme/female DJ that deserves attention, shout about it! Repost their music or mixes on your social media. Share a tune with another DJ that has a platform for amplifying their good work. When you see an all-male DJ line-up, let them know that you want to see more diversity and be ready to make some suggestions for who else should be on that lineup. 

Report online hate speech aimed at minorities in the scene. The more this shit gets normalized, the more emboldened people are to perpetuate it. It reinforces our otherness, not to mention distracting from the art form. For example, I just saw a 5-second video snippet of a female DJ at a big event dancing and having a good time behind the decks. The comments section was an absolute cesspool of sexism. Just because she was dancing and had her hands up in the shot (not actively working the mixer/decks,) she was accused of being a “fake DJ.” Just ridiculous shit that our male counterparts would never get called out for and there is a constant barrage of that kind of stuff coming at us from all directions. It’s exhausting. We love the music as much as anyone else does and we have a right to our self-expression. Believe me when I say most of us have had to work a hell-of-a-lot harder to get to wherever we are than most of our male counterparts, so show some respect.

DXD: You also recently spoke with Bold Journey about your experience about being the only female DJ that is also Asian in club spaces. Do you ever have the opportunity to step into a booth and play without that thought crossing your mind? 

W: That’s an interesting question. In Atlanta, I’m pretty conscious of the fact that I don’t fit the expectations of what a DJ should look like in this city – not being white, black, or male. When I started DJing in LA, I can’t say that the thought came up that much, at least not along racial lines because LA is more racially and ethnically diverse. However, I was still always conscious of being one of very few women in the scene.

As a person of mixed Asian heritage (Filipino and Japanese,) I’ve become accustomed to not really fitting in anywhere, and that informs a lot of what I play and the events that I produce. Ultimately, I’m trying to create spaces where everyone feels like they belong.

DXD: Are femme DJs tired of having to answer questions about their femininity as a DJ instead of solely getting to talk about their work the way men do? 

W: Yeah, kind of. At the same time, it’s a necessary discussion. Let’s just make sure that we don’t get stuck having this conversation and leave enough space for artists and DJs to say what they need to say about their art form.

DXD: What aspects/spaces of ATL nightlife have you enjoyed most, and where do you see ways it could potentially improve?

W: I’ve enjoyed exploring the different subcultures of Atlanta’s music scene, but as someone who considers herself genre-fluid, I would love to hear more diverse sounds in DJ sets and throughout an event. It seems the opening set is a lost art these days with so many DJs playing high energy 125+ bpm whether it is 5pm on a Sunday or 3am on a Saturday night. I personally enjoy a progression of energy that happens throughout an event. It’s just not that interesting to listen to the same bpm range, energy level, and subgenres all night long. 

Honestly, I really miss the chill out room, or just a second room in general where you don’t know what is going to be playing, but you have a chance to discover something unexpected and into a different vibe than what was going on in the main room. These spaces can be an entry point to entire other sonic worlds and that is a gift.

In general, and this is not solely an Atlanta critique, folks need to learn how to vibe in. I didn’t realize that was a skill that people were lacking until I started playing out more post-pandemic. The on-demand streaming mentality has emboldened people to make some really lame requests at inappropriate times. As someone that doesn’t play pop music, this is extremely frustrating and as an audience member, I think it’s really important to be able to listen to something that may be foreign to you and soak it in instead of just wanting to control the sonic vibe everywhere you go. 

I’ve been seeing more collaborations between crews happening, and I would love to encourage more of that. Music and nightlife are hard businesses. We would all do better to pool our resources and audiences, besides the fact that magic can really happen when people align and join forces. 

DXD: Agreed! Turning our attention to the North, you are preparing to play for the first time in another iconic music city, Toronto. Tell us more about this and what you are most looking forward to there?

W: Thanks to my friend/DJ/promoter, Kiki LeFreak, I will play Toronto for the first time in December alongside her and Peter Croce, label owner at Rocksteady Disco. Peter has been a guest on Spin City several times, so I’m excited for our first in-person meeting and the opportunity to play together. 

This will be my first trip to Canada and I recruited some friends to join me, so it’s shaping up to be a really fun first visit. Toronto is often referred to as the Los Angeles of Canada because of its diversity and history with the film industry, so I’m looking forward to catching some big city vibes. Toronto is also a long-established electronic music scene that has some deep rave history, so I’m looking forward to getting a feel for what sounds they are into given that music history and the proximity to other cities that are steeped in house like Detroit, Chicago, and New York.

DXD: Is there a set/track/artist that has been inspiring you lately? 

W: Berlin-based, New Zealand-born DJ/Producer, Philippa is someone that I discovered in the last year whose productions I come back to continually. She produces big tracks with epic strings, funky basslines, and a top-notch jazz sample that always evokes big feelings for me. 

DXD: It’s Saturday night and you’re not working, where are you at to have a good time? 

W: Because I’m blessed to usually be booked on the weekends, I’m probably just chilling at home, making dinner, and dancing in my socks in the kitchen to some records that my husband is playing, followed by a movie.

DXD: Top three things you love seeing at parties? 

W: 1. Dancers vibing out. 2. Strangers making new friends. 3. A diverse room full of people united in the moment and the music.

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Thank you Wahine and safe travels in the coming weeks! You can keep up with her work on Instagram and Soundcloud. Be sure to look her up next time you are making plans in Atlanta. Stay groovy.

Xx,