(Bachata) Korea's top bachata DJs 💖Attention vs Mongu💖 Suspiciously alike — a 12Q/12A telepathy interview

“Wanting to dance to the music I actually wanted to dance to — that's what got me into DJing.”

The original motivation for starting to DJ, after the songs he wanted never came on at bar socials

“There really isn't that much of my own taste in the music I play. I think the biggest part of the job is getting people dancing and having a blast.”

Explaining how he places a DJ's role in building the floor's energy rather than in personal taste

“I think you've got to play a lot of the music people love, more than the music that's just good.”

Laying out his philosophy as a DJ — the crowd comes before his own taste when he picks tracks

“I don't play a new track the second it drops. Even when something really grabs me, I usually wait two or three weeks.”

His know-how on working new releases in — checking whether dancers abroad have demoed it, and moving carefully

“When I'm picking tracks, I usually try to put together the dramatic parts, the upbeat parts, and the romantic parts so you can dance each one differently.”

CONTEXTExplaining that he goes for tracks whose emotional sections each invite a different way of dancing

“I usually think of peak time as starting somewhere in the 10, 11 o'clock stretch. In that window I go with the most upbeat songs I can, songs that really crank the energy up.”

Explaining hour-by-hour song selection strategy for a social party

“Up in the DJ booth I'm constantly watching — what's the energy of tonight's crowd, do I keep riding the upbeat stuff, or do I bring the mood down and go romantic?”

Explaining how a DJ reads the floor in real time and folds it into song selection

“I watch people's faces and how they're dancing, carefully. You can tell from the dancing and the expressions — oh, they know this song, or oh, they're struggling with it right now.”

How to read the crowd in real time from the DJ booth at a social

“It used to be all wave, one hundred percent. Now you've got to do mood, and Dominican, and wave, and mambo. There's so much you have to do now.”

An observation that bachata styles have diversified and the bar has risen since starting out in 2018

“Zouk style came in and there are a lot more of those flowing, swaying moves — early on the women could follow, but these days they handle pretty much any zouk-y pattern you throw at them.”

CONTEXTAn observation that zouk's influence made bachata moves harder, but followers have leveled up right along with it

“Compared to 17, 18 years ago, the level of social dancers now is just so much higher.”

Reflecting on how the overall level of social dancers in Korea's bachata scene has risen

“When you dance, it's important to hold your own space. If everyone dances like it's all theirs, you end up bumping into each other and people get hurt.”

CONTEXTAdvice on collisions that happen when floor-space etiquette isn't respected at a social

“Hearing "the music was great" afterward is nice, but what I love most is watching the energy on the floor rise and fall exactly the way I steered it.”

Reflecting on the most rewarding moment as a DJ