"We put a lot of effort into each set," Nando said. "We're thinking them through, we're planning them out, but they're supposed to feel like they organically happened out of nowhere."
That's Moment Theory in Fernando "Nando" Garcia's own words—the philosophy before the name, and the name before the business. Moment Theory is a local DJ and live music production company specializing in community events, weddings, and energetic multi-cultural gatherings.
When asked to describe what he does as a DJ, he doesn't start with turntables. He starts with a wedding couple wanting a rap battle instead of a first dance, or a groom who loves Pokémon replacing the traditional garter toss with a thrown Pokéball.
"We're encouraging people to step out of their comfort zone," Nando said, "to be their true self, and to watch people's eyes light up around them because they finally feel seen. Music has a way of allowing people to express themselves."
Music was part of his life from the beginning—making tortillas with his mom in the kitchen or sitting through cousins' baptisms as songs lulled him to sleep. Before Moment Theory, music was simply what his family's Mexican heritage sounded like.
In college and through youth ministry, he discovered new styles of music and culture while learning to DJ from a group of older mentors. Together, those experiences shaped the approach that sets him apart today.
"I not only love mixing generations of music, but I love mixing cultures," Nando said. "You'll hear cumbias mixed with Kanye West mixed with Brazilian funk—or the acapella of a French song over the instrumental of a Portuguese song—and at the root of it, a feeling is evoked because it's movement, it's dance, it's the same rhythm from one song to the next, flowing together so seamlessly."
He spends hours in the studio testing blends before taking them to public events like Cafetón, the daytime coffee rave at Onyx on Emma Ave.
After the group's first Latin-themed night in downtown Springdale, messages poured in: "We've been waiting for our downtown to look like this."
When downtown Springdale hosted a World Cup watch party for Mexico's match against England, 12,000 people filled Luther George Park—a space that had never held more than 3,000. Nando FaceTimed his father, an immigrant from Mexico, from the middle of the crowd.
"This is what I get to do," he told him.
What he wants, in his words, is simple: to create spaces where people show up "no matter their background, no matter their language, no matter their skin color," find the door open, and leave a little less alone than when they arrived.
"We're encouraging people to step out of their comfort zone, to be their true self, and to watch people's eyes light up around them because they finally feel seen."