Serena Passion considers herself outspoken about electronic music. That’s why she was hesitant to become a DJ herself, she says.
“I was apprehensive to begin at all because I knew so many people who were starting to DJ,” says Passion. “I’ve always had my own opinions. I was worried some people would attack me on my own DJing.”
Nevertheless, Passion pursued it.
Now, the fourth-year communications student gets to brag about a part-time DJing gig, which began when she started promoting for shows in her hometown of Toronto in 2009.
After a disappointing rejection from Ryerson University’s “incredibly competitive” fashion communication program, Passion accepted her alternate offer of communications studies at Carleton.
While in Ottawa for school, she began bartending at Ritual Nightclub, a popular venue for DJ shows.
“I wanted to learn the technicalities of it and why this track goes with that track,” Passion says.
In May, she purchased two CDJs, a special type of CD player with controls for operating and manipulating analogue music. Motivated by her love for electro and excitement for all genres of music, she started practicing.
Although many mainstream DJs spin from computers, rather than old-school CDs, Passion says it’s a matter of preference and crowds think it’s “awesome that [she’s] picking it up.”
“On a computer I could obviously mash it together, but I wouldn’t even know how it would work,” she says.
“Even though it was hard, and even though I was terrible at first, it was something that I wanted to master before I moved on to computer programs.”
In October, Ottawa-based promotion company The Knwldg approached Passion about spinning. She’s been occupying Ritual’s DJ booth ever since for Deep Sound Saturdays, a monthly electro, house and techno event that she personally plans.
“It’s sort of to bring a new genre that a lot of people listen to in Ottawa, but don’t get the chance to experience here,” she says. “I don’t particularly enjoy a lot of different popular house music nowadays. I’m not really a huge fan on this whole Avicii train.”
Passion says in the beginning, it was hard being a female DJ in a male-dominated field.
“I was worried about getting a ridiculous amount of criticism just for being a girl, [and] I didn’t want that kind of attention,” she says. “But I get to play a lot of shows and people find it interesting that I’m a girl DJ . . . they come check it out because they think ‘a girl spinning?’”
And yes, Passion is her real last name, not an adopted alias of DJ sorts. It’s pronounced with a Spanish accent, as her father is from the Philippines and her mother from the United Kingdom.
She stays true to her British roots through her adoration for the powerful UK electro scene, particularly the movement from Bristol, but mentions Detroit and Berlin as influential electro locales.
Alison Brady, Passion’s best friend and roommate, says the DJ label hasn’t fazed Passion.
“It’s cool . . . she mixes when we have pre-drinks and stuff,” adds Brady. “She’s my best friend at the end of the day and not so much a DJ to me.”
Upon graduating, Passion hopes to move back to Toronto and work in public relations. But she says she has no plans of giving up DJing any time soon.
“It’s not all about the money,” she says. “It feels really cool to be up there in front of a whole bunch of people, listening to your music and dancing around to the music you’re playing for them.”
Never thinking she’d be studying in Ottawa while DJing part-time, Passion insists everything happens for a reason.
“Now I’ve found three of my best friends, and I have this great group of people. It’s led me to a lot of different places,” she says.
“I wouldn’t be where I am, DJing and bartending, without Ottawa.”
