Meet SPORTS aka Madeleine Carr, FBi‘s Dance Class trainee

December 8th 2015

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When recreation becomes a serious SPORT(S)…

Madeleine Carr has spent the past two months learning the ins and outs of DJing from some of Sydney’s best, as one of our FBi’s Dance Class trainees. She has emerged as SPORTS: a ball of pure energy, pumped up and ready to work the dancefloor into a sweat. This Friday night she’ll be doing just that, hitting the decks on her own for the first time with Sidechains at Kit & Kaboodle.

To prepare, she did her first live mix on Switch with Sandro Dallarmi on Saturday night – her first radio appearance. Listen below!

If you haven’t noticed, Dance Class is all about firsts. Made possible by the support of V MoVement, the project is aimed at redressing the significant gender imbalance in dance music today, and providing the skills and connections that passionate young women need to get a head start in the world of dance music. We asked Madeleine for some of her favourite lessons and experiences so far. Read ’em below while you try and keep still to her mix…

 

“The morning I found out that I was one of FBi’s Dance Class members, I was on top of the world – and have been balancing up here ever since. Firstly, my fellow Dance Class girls, our mentors and all the FBi volunteers are incredible people. Being welcomed into an inspiring and collaborative space has been a very elevating experience. Everyone is so enthusiastic and passionate about what they do, making it a great creative community in which to be involved. #teamsports!

Kicking off in late October, we’ve had a weekly crash course in everything we could need to start carving our own path. Lessons ranged from basic skills in different equipment to guidance on how to hone our brand. We met with talented people in the industry who are kicking goals right now to hear their stories and advice. These tutorials definitely exposed us to different ways we could tackle this industry – they were all very different, so I’m sure it will be an interesting journey for everyone!

Although it’s not a challenge I’m ready to tackle right now, the vinyl lesson with Kali (Picnic) was definitely a highlight – it really took you back to the roots of DJing, when you had to know the music in a much more intrinsic way. In his Serato tutorial, Joyride – aka the don, Rowan Dix – mentioned the old days when he would have to count the beats in his head and do a calculation to get the exact BPM – now that’s skill!

I was paired with Sandro Dallarmi for the on-air part of the experience. He’s probably one of the most in-the-know dudes I’ve met when it comes to Sydney dance music. Rightly so, he runs FBi Click, FBi’s online and digital station which focuses on exactly that. We had our first time on air together last Saturday on his show, Switch, and it was so much fun to see how easily our real life banter shimmied over onto the radio-waves! From the get-go, we were bouncing off each other’s energy and general enthusiasm for bangers.

Even though the Dance Class radio presenting and panelling tutorial had been relatively brief and fairly daunting (some people spend months training up and we had a hot two hours), Sandro threw me in the deep end – straight onto the mic, taking control of the panel and even doing my own live mix to close the show. I couldn’t be more grateful for how nurturing and encouraging he’s been.

On that thankful note – I’d like to give a shout out to Mickey Kojak and Tasker, two local Sydney producers, music enthusiasts and friends who have really helped me with my dance music education over the past few months. They also have some mean original tunes and are exceptional DJs, so keep an eye out!

What I’m looking forward to is definitely the next few weeks on Switch with Sandro, as he’s encouraging me to focus on a different genre of dance music for each live mix. Last week I had fun with some ghetto house, Miami Bounce and a bit of Jersey Club in preparation for my Sidechains gig this Friday, whereas this Saturday night I’ll be getting deep and dark in some tech-house.

I’m also looking forward to the Dance Class takeover on FBi Click that all the girls will be doing together! The first show airs on Monday 14 December at 4pm (temporarily replacing Body Promise), ongoing through to mid-January. Tune in!

On a final note, I couldn’t be more grateful for having Caroline Gates and Andy Garvey guide us through the program. Both such generous and talented people, not to mention boss ladies to look up to. We all feel very fortunate. Also thanks to V MoVement for supporting local Australian music and female talent. I’m stoked to be a part of this whole experience. #squadgoals #goteam”

 

Follow SPORTS:

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WHAT: Sidechains
WHO: SPORTS, Teachesofpeaches, Baby Face Thrilla, Lewis Cancut
WHEN: Friday 11 December, doors 9pm
HOW MUCH: $10 on the door, more info here

 

MEET MIRÃ BÕRU AKA TESS NICOLAOU, FBi‘S DANCE CLASS TRAINEE

 

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