On March 31st 2012, a beautiful spring evening, DEX 101 paid a visit to Pointe-Saint-Charles YMCA’s teen zone for a workshop.

After initial delays caused by the confusion of room availability and finding an electrical plug with actual power, the class was under way.

As always, it was nothing short of fun and, learning of course!

A big thank you to Lisa Sim from SIM Minerals for putting everything together and making it happen! And… for the cupcakes of course!

View the complete photo album on our official DEX 101 Facebook page.

In January 2012, JaBig performed at a Beats for Life benefit in Gananoque (Ontario, Canada) and right before his set as he was sound-checking, Autumn, a curious young lady, approached the DJ booth and in short order, an impromptu one-on-one DEX 101 introductory class happened just like that!

In August 2011, DEX 101 hosted the youth from Leave Out Violence’s (LOVE) summer programs at Club UN in Montréal.

(Photo courtesy:  LOVE Québec Facebook Page)

Oh did we have so much fun!  (Unfortunately, we cannot post photographs yet because our dear JaBig forgot to get the youth’s parents to sign the waivers – luckily, they posted their own images on their official Facebook page. Note from JaBig: I did not forget; I did not hear my phone when it reminded me: the music was kinda loud! )

As a matter of fact here is what the organisation’s official wrote to JaBig days and weeks after the introductory DJ workshop:

“I know I thanked you yesterday but I wanted you to know that it was said that this was the best activity of the summer so far! ” Mikaella Goldsmith, Program Coordinator

“Juste pour te dire que tous les jeunes ont vraiment apprécié l’activité que tu as offerte hier. Ils étaient vraiment heureux quand ils sont revenus au bureau.
Donc, au nom de tous ces jeunes et de tous les membres de LOVE: Vivre sans violence, UN GROS GROS MERCI POUR LE SOUTIEN.” Kiki Dranias, Director of Marketing & Communications

(Loose translation for English speakers: Just to tell that every single youth enjoyed the activity that you offered yesterday. They were really happy when they came back to the office. So, in the name of all those young people and all the LOVE (Leave Out Violence) members: A BIG THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT.”)

LOVE was even kind enough to write a love letter to DEX 101.

Thank you guys, let’s do it again this summer when we drop by Montréal again!

From mid-May 2011 until June/July, DEX 101 workshops are in full effect in the city of Montreal, Canada.

"Magnum DI" driving JaBig crazy to the amusement of other participants. Magnum's grasped the basic concepts at lightning speed and in the process got a little bit carried away . Click image for more photos courtesy of Robert Strukelj.

We knew that the program was going to be popular in the so called “Cultural Capital of Canada” but the response was nothing short of overwhelming: we had scheduled two sessions a week but the demand pushed us to six/week!

A big thank you to Club U.N. for graciously allowing us to use their venue. U.N. is without a doubt Montreal’s number one underground House Music club and it hosts superstar international DJs on a weekly basis. What is so cool for DEX 101 participants is that they get to learn how to DJ on the world’s top-notch DJ equipment including a mixer that is so rare that there are less than 200 available worldwide!

The most interesting thing to note is that the workshop seems to be more popular with women of all ages which led us to wonder if the reason that less than 1% of DJs worldwide (and we’re being optimistic) are women is simply due to the fact that they’re not exposed to the art all?

Read the kind words that one DEX 101 attendee wrote in after the workshop on how to DJ:

“JaBig is a straight shooter when it comes to teaching people how to DJ. I knew nothing about turntables, but with his patience he taught me the importance of how music really affect people. Like what kind of music to play in what kind of different crowds.

I’m so glad he’s taking the time to teach others like me. I’ve always been a lover of music and now JaBig has inspired me to create music and I thank him.” — Magnum DI – Montréal, May 2011

Below is a video made of a compilation of photographs taken at one of the workshops. It was overcrowded because almost every attendee decided to bring a friend who also wanted to learn how to DJ!

DEX 101 is gearing up for Montreal’s winter DJ introductory workshops. We will be visiting and presenting our highly anticipated programmes to schools and youth centers in the city (list coming shortly).

We can hardly contain our excitement as the date for the first atelier approaches even if some of us are already whining at the idea of hauling heavy DJ gear in freezing weather conditions… (note from JaBig: yup! Guilty as charged… February is freezing cold in Montréal )

While prepping for our free youth DJ workshops, we kept hearing from the big kids (you know, the ones that are in their mid-20s and above) who complained about being excluded from the programmes. It turns out that dreams of deejaying are dormant in everyone no matter the age!

To make everyone happy, we have decided to conduct a series of fee-based DJ workshops for big kids. While the youth workshops are and will always be free to all, the adult programmes’ proceeds will help fund DEX 101 operations to keep the project running at no cost to young participants.

Additionally, proceeds from adult programmes will also fight child hunger in developing countries worldwide as parts of the funds will be donated to United Nations World Food Programme in support of School Meals, their school feeding initiative.

So if you’re a big kid and you want to discover the art of DJing, you may now rejoice because we’re accommodate you and at the kicker is that while you spin records, you will be helping feed underprivileged children a continent away.

Stay tuned for more.

It’s been a (looong) while so what have we been up to?

Well it turns out that scheduling a world touring DJ workshop is no simple task due to the complexity of the project but we are getting there slowly but surely!

In the meanwhile, we have been soft launching DEX 101 programs by conducting low-key but impactful DJ workshops to a selected audience where the lucky few get their hands on the decks and learn the basics of DJing in a cool, relaxed atmosphere.

As we head into the holiday season – where has 2010 gone??? – we’re still running workshops while we finalize our itinerary, logistics and other things that need to be figured out to make for a successful world tour.

To all of you who have been sending wonderful words of support, many thanks and we look forward to coming to your city and finally meet face to face over a pair of turntables.

We have just launched our official website and blog at long last!

At this time, there’s nothing to report yet because everything is still under wraps but for those who have no idea what we are all about, you can learn all about DEX 101 in the meantime.

Thanks for visiting and we hope to see you soon!

The DEX 101 Team

PS: We’re on Facebook of course http://www.facebook.com/DEX101