DJs
Mimi is a swing DJ, dance teacher, and performer from the San Francisco (formerly New York City) scene. Since her DJ debut in 2016, she has played swing music at numerous venues locally as well as at DJing dances and competitions at national events. Mimi is particularly proud to have been a regular DJ at Bal Practice in NYC and at Bal Haus in San Francisco. She was previously the head DJ at Virtual GLBE in 2020 and is excited to return in person to one of her favorite events and cities. Her most recent project has been compiling tracks and albums from female-led bands. Mimi also enjoys reading about jazz history and attending jazz lectures to share more of the context of the music. She is especially excited now to also mentor a new generation of swing DJs in the Bay Area!
DJ Michael Quisao
District of Columbia
Michael Quisao grew up in Dallas, traveled the world with the Navy, and has been a proud DC resident since 2014. He took his first Lindy Hop workshop in 2006 and has been captivated by swinging jazz music and swing dancing ever since.
Michael loves that he gets to enable creative, delightful dances and he takes it as the greatest compliment when folks complain that they can’t bear to leave the dance floor because the tunes are so tasty.
Michael is the Head DJ & Music Director at New Columbia Swing. He has DJd for Camp Hollywood, Lindy Focus, DCLX, and all the big U.S. Balboa events, including as the Head Competition DJ for Bal Week 2023.
DJ Ann Sychterz
Champaign, IL
Ann began swing dancing in 2008 in Waterloo, Canada (not far from Toronto) and now lives in the US. Since getting her first songs, she has DJed in her home scenes including the one she founded in Switzerland called Swingtime Lausanne. She has had the fortune of playing swing jazz including head and competition DJ for events around the world. Digging through old stuff and new (soft spot for the original stuff), small group to big band to Newport, North American and European, she aims to create an atmosphere worthy of creativity and playing around with the dance.
DJ Shelby Johnson
Columbus, OH
Shelby Johnson is a self-proclaimed music snob, who fell in love with jazz at an early age listening to the sounds of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. He really fell in love with swing music in the 6th grade thanks to a music appreciation class, and later started playing jazz in the 8th grade after 3 years in band as a drummer and percussionist. In high school, Shelby started playing the vibraphone and would transpose his parts for most pieces, as many pieces didn’t provide written music. This developed Shelby’s ear for music that was a huge catalyst for him catching the swing dance bug in 2011 in Orlando, Florida. And BOI, what kind of journey that has started! 2 years later, Shelby became one of the premier DJs in the Southeast, being featured at exchanges in Florida and South Carolina. In 2013 Shelby moved to Dallas, TX, where he continues to deliver awesome syncopated tunes for Lindy Hop, Charleston, Balboa and Collegiate Shag. Shelby’s passion for social dancing, teaching and competing landed him the 2016 Frankie Manning Ambassador Scholarship to Herrang Dance Camp where he expanded his knowledge on Jazz Dance and Music History. Now Shelby is back in Columbus, OH ready to continue bringing people groovy and rhythmic tunes to dance their best to.
DJ Brennan Bowman
Chicago, IL
Brennan believes in the journey, treating each dance floor he encounters like an expedition he is about to take with the dancers on the floor. No matter the method, speed, or destination of the voyage, Brennan strives to find new (and old) music that inspires and challenges dancers to create art in all dance forms. Having honed his DJ skills with local and regional events beginning in 2009 and serving as the DJ/Band Manager for Chicago’s premier weekly event, Fizz Swing Dance, Brennan is very excited to return as a DJ for one of his favorite events, Great Lakes Balboa Escape!