Music is a permanent staple of University culture, from student bands playing country and classic rock at darties to late night DJs spinning house music at frats and bars. The University’s music scene cultivates a vibrant community, fueled by the sense of connection that emerges from something as simple as dancing to good music with friends. Within this scene, a growing number of women DJs are making a name for themselves and shaking up the rhythm.
Unlike a set playlist, a live DJ has the ability to read a crowd and respond, playing an active role in every college party — constantly syncing the soundtrack to the crowd to make the dancefloor come alive. According to Bella Heintges, seasoned Trin DJ and fourth-year Engineering student, the difference between a live DJ and a simple aux cord can make or break a party.
“It's like a stream of music where the beats are always matching. There's never a lull in the party,” Heintges said. “There's a figurehead, a person in the front, that everyone can look at and yell at, and it gets people excited to dance and be there in the moment with the music.”
For Heintges, music has always been a passion, but she found her calling in college exploring the technical aspects of sound engineering rather than following the traditional route of learning an instrument. Her undergraduate studies in engineering inspired her to pick up DJing, merging two of her interests into one.
“I ended up choosing electrical engineering, so I kind of have the background academically, as nerdy as that sounds, with electronics,” she said. “I understand more of the science behind music and how that all works.”
According to Heintges, she was the only woman DJ on the scene when she started DJing in her second year at the University. Typically, a fraternity brother becomes the go-to DJ for his own fraternity, meaning that more often than not this “figurehead” of the party is a man. Because of this, the DJ community at the University is heavily male dominated, creating an exclusive atmosphere that can make it hard for women to break in.
“It's really male dominated. Honestly, I would say just because of circumstance, because it's the frats,” Heintges said. “There's such a stigma around it. It's like ‘here's this girl, like she wants to mess with the board, but she doesn't know what she's doing.’”
Alison Pike, third-year Engineering student and DJ, also acknowledged the boys club culture surrounding DJing at frat parties. For her, the biggest challenge that came with DJing has been booking gigs and fighting to earn respect in the community.
“It takes a lot to kind of put yourself out there and ask people for help, and to try and put your name out there as well,” Pike said. “You want people to take you seriously, and you kind of have to prove it to them.”
Third-year Batten student Lily Dorathy, who has been DJing since 2023, agreed that the world of University DJing is not an easy one to break into as a woman. Booking gigs requires persistence and dedication and there are plenty of obstacles for DJs who are not a part of a fraternity.
“[The] guys are gonna roll their eyes, but it's honestly been really hard,” Dorathy said. “It took me a year and a half to actually have my first gig.”
Dorathy’s love for DJing began in a summer spent enveloped in the house music scene of London. Influenced by other woman DJs such as South Korean Peggy Gou, a global icon renowned for her electronic genre-bending sets, Dorathy was inspired to bring her newfound passion back to the University — along with a sense of appreciation for the experiential culture surrounding house music in the United Kingdom.
Dorathy has incorporated the experimental nature of London DJs into her own personal style, mixing underground house tracks with classic crowd-pleasers in her sets in order to introduce party-goers to new music they might fall in love with while still giving them the opportunity to dance to their favorite songs.
Like Dorathy, Pike also works to blend audience desires with her own style, while maintaining the spontaneity so instrumental in a DJ’s set. This balance is a hard one to strike, but the women DJs at the University have mastered it — captivating the dancefloor until the very end of the night.
“Nothing is ever structured or like pre-processed before the set. I kind of go off of the audience's vibe, like, what they want,” Pike said. “Reading the crowd, reading the room and making sure that my own style is still incorporated within the set.”
Pike is also inspired by other women DJs, such as Charli XCX, whose rapid rise in popularity not only as a musician, but as a DJ as well, has opened the stage doors for women trying to break into the electro industry. However, she finds a lot of inspiration in her fellow women DJs at the University.
“There's a couple girls here, like Lily Dorathy and Gracie Ramza, who are really good female DJs here at U.Va.,” Pike said. “They are influences to me, because seeing other girls do the same thing is just so awesome.”
Despite the challenges, the women DJs of the University are killing it on the scene and inspiring a whole new group of women to step up to the decks. For them, DJing is more than just a hobby — their genuine love for their craft is evident in the amount of work they put in.
“I think it's been such an open and rewarding process,” Pike said. “I would say just trusting the process, as well as putting in the time and effort to be as good as you want to be will make you go a long way.”
Once a DJ has established themselves, the community is described as a very welcoming one, and Dorathy, Pike and Heintges were eager to offer advice to other women hoping to follow in their footsteps.
“I would say if you love music and you know that you want to play it, just keep doing it,” Dorathy said. “Really, really master your skill first, in terms of learning how to actually DJ, because unfortunately, you're going to have to prove yourself.”
Heintges echoed Dorathy’s advice, and also stressed the importance of having confidence and trust in your own abilities.
“Don’t ever be embarrassed or feel like you're being a burden because everything is so incredibly male dominated,” Heintges said.
They also emphasized the significance of developing an individual style. Pike expressed that the coolest thing about a live DJ is that each one is unique, responding to the energy of the crowd in their own way, completely in the heat of the moment.
“Being authentic, I think, is really important too, because you don't want to be like every other DJ,” Pike said. “That will go a long way for you as well, if you have an interesting style or flair to the music that you bring, especially to the different scenes of U.Va.”
The woman DJs of the University are deeply devoted to the music, evident in the liveliness of their dancefloors. With them paving the way, more women are certain to join their ranks and put their own spin on University parties.
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