Mixing Desire: A Foundational DJ Workshop with Ximena Velázquez

 

Mixing Desire is a foundational DJ workshop facilitated by Ximena Velázquez (La PosmoBaby). This hands-on workshop introduces music lovers and emerging DJs to curating and performing a set. Participants will learn to use Rekordbox and CDJ equipment, from organizing a music library and building a playlist using harmonic mixing to beatmatching, transitions, loops, and live performance techniques. Throughout the workshop, each participant will prepare a 30-minute set to present at a community showcase.

All are welcome, and we especially encourage participants from BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities to sign-up. 

Limited capacity: register now to reserve your spot! Registration Deadline: Sep 23, 2026

 

Schedule

Day 1: Saturday, October 3, 6–9 pm

Day 2: Sunday, October 4, 6–9 pm

One-on-One Sessions: Tuesday, October 6 & Wednesday, October 7, 6–9 pm (30 min per participant, slots to be booked individually)

Community Showcase: Saturday, October 10, 8–11:30 pm

 

Workshop Days and Hours

Day 1 ♡ October 3 (6–9 pm): Workshop overview and introduction to Rekordbox. 

We begin with an overview of DJing as an artistic form of storytelling: how a set is built, track by track, to take a room on a journey. From there, participants will learn how to navigate Rekordbox, organizing a digital music library and building a playlist using harmonic mixing (the Camelot Wheel). We finish the day with an overview of exporting a playlist onto a USB.

Day 2 ♡ October 4 (6–9 pm): Hands-on with the CDJs.

Day two shifts from the laptop to the decks. Participants will get a live demonstration of beatmatching, transitions, looping, and effects (FX) on the CDJs, then have time to explore and practice on the equipment themselves.

One-on-One Mentorship ♡ October 6 and 7 (6–9 pm):

Each participant gets a 30-minute solo session on the CDJs, scheduled individually within this window. This is a chance to practice one-on-one, ask questions, and get individualized feedback before the showcase.

Community Showcase ♡ Saturday, October 10 (8–11:30 pm). 

Participants perform a live set for a public, community-facing audience.

What You'll Gain

• Foundational knowledge of industry-standard DJ technology
• Digital audio workflow and playlist curation skills
• Practical experience mixing on CDJs
• Confidence and tools for live media performance

Requirements

Mixing Desire is a foundational DJ workshop. No prior experience is required, but participants should feel comfortable using a computer and learning new software, since Rekordbox is central to the workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring MP3 tracks they'd like to mix, downloaded ahead of time.

Technical requirements

Please bring the following:

• Laptop with Rekordbox installed prior to class (free download here: https://rekordbox.com/en/download/)
• Headphones
• USB drive

Workshop Fees

• General Admission: $120
• Organization/Collective Members (up to 2/membership available): $96 (20% Discount)*
• Producer Members: $84 (30% Discount)*
• Student Members: $60 (50% Discount)*
• Video Bucks: Up to 50% off (at the discretion of the VIVO Staff)^

* Active members should have already received a discount code based on their membership level. If not, please email learning@vivomediaarts.com.

^ If you’ve volunteered with VIVO, you should have received a discount code based on your stored Video Bucks. If not, please email learning@vivomediaarts.com.

Want access to discounts?

Sign up for a VIVO Membership.

To learn more about getting involved in the future, check out our volunteering page.

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100% Subsidy

One no-cost workshop spot will be available for an individual from a marginalized or underserved community facing financial barriers. To enter the lottery for a 100% subsidy, please email learning@vivomediaarts.com. The deadline to apply is Sep 19, 2026.
Results will be shared with all applicants by Sep 20.

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Refunds and Withdrawals

Class sizes are small, and our instructors need to be paid. If you can’t make a class that you’ve signed up for, we need time to alert wait-listed participants. VIVO presently asks that withdrawals from workshops be requested by emailing learning@vivomediaarts.com. Please notify us at least 10 days before the workshop (by Sep 23, 2026 end of day) if you need to withdraw to receive a refund. Note that the ShowPass processing fee is non-refundable, and we cannot process any refund requests after Sep 23.

If the workshop does not reach minimum capacity, it will be cancelled and all participants will receive a full refund.

Venue Accessibility

For venue accessibility information, please visit our website.

 

About the instructor:

Ximena Velázquez (La PosmoBaby) is a Vancouver-based Mexican interdisciplinary artist, DJ, and cultural producer working across video, performance, textiles, sound, and installation. Her autoethnographic practice explores diasporic Latinx identity and queerness, drawing from personal and shared histories to create spaces where ritual, memory, and embodied experience intersect.

Her DJ and cultural production practice has included Caricias, a monthly radio show on B-Side Radio spotlighting femmes and non-binary artists, which she hosted from 2021 to 2025, and Gateo, a Latinx queer collective she co-founded from 2023 to 2024. She has also led more than twenty workshops across Mexico and Canada, including sewing and DJing.

Velázquez has performed and presented work across Mexico, Canada, Chile, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. She was recently an artist-in-residence at SomoS Arts in Berlin, where she developed Rosa Pastel, a ten-channel video installation for The Polygon Gallery's Lind Biennial exploring migration, longing, and belonging.

Under the name La PosmoBaby, she brings together her artistic, sonic, and community-based practices, treating music as a tool for exploring the dancefloor as a space for storytelling, cultural memory, and collective joy.

https://www.instagram.com/laposmobaby/

 

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Banner: © Gracie Mclaughlin