Late in the hot afternoon, I descend down the stairwell into the grungy basement tavern known as Lumpy’s, 2428 Lincoln Way. Cool air circulates in the brick-walled room, which is a good thing, because moments from now, some of the hottest tracks (in Ames, on this particular afternoon) will be laid down by the most unlikely DJ — me.

Enter the “DJ Dojo” — a five-day event geared toward anyone who has ever been awed by a set of turntables, but never had the resources to actually experiment with them. Free workshops are being held this week in Ames, covering a variety of styles and levels of experience and led by a clan of the most fearsome senseis to touch a turntable in the Midwest.

Once DJ Jim Griffel is set up, he shows me the basic skills needed to operate turntables. With hundreds of vinyls and top-of-the-line equipment at my disposal, I spend a few hours becoming addicted to mixing house beats.

Once I’ve been thoroughly enlightened at this set of tables, I advance to my next opponent. Chris Grady, aka DJ Cash, a guru in the world of turntablism, gives me some more in-depth tips on the methodology of mixing.

“It’s more than just playing music — there’s an actual art to it,” Grady says.

Art indeed. I can already begin to see parallels between DJ-ing and the martial arts.

“Kung fu and turntables work together really well because they’re almost synonymous in the way that they’re drawing from a centering of the spirit,” says DJ Cornelius, a veteran of the Minneapolis club scene and one of the main instructors for the DJ Dojo.

Along with students like Brandon Carr, junior in psychology, I am thrilled to be able to take an opportunity like this to learn something I have been interested in for quite some time.

“I’ve been interested in mixing music for a while, but never had a chance to do my own,” Carr says. “Since I’m a beginner, I’m looking forward to mixing without having to make a huge investment.”

Allowing talented DJs from the Midwest to share what they know and love, at no charge, is certainly a new concept in these parts. Considering the rather dry and almost invisible DJing scene in Ames, this is something duly worthy of appreciation.

“Iowa is known as being behind the times. This is a way for us to catch up,” says Rachel Norgaard, senior in civil engineering, who is learning to mix trance at the dojo.

The week’s training labs will culminate with a party on Saturday for the participants of the dojo to do battle in an open-tables tournament. DJs that do well will receive prizes and mad props.

Unlike typical DJ battles, these will have a unique spin added, no pun intended. The features open to the public are part of a show called “Fu Kung Skratch,” put on by Cinemix, a company founded by brothers Greg and Brandon Gillam. They will play a three-minute looped kung fu battle scene and let the aspiring DJs give their own take on the scene by matching their tables to the fight taking place.

“You might get a techno guy who’s just doing the electro thing … and then you get a scratch guy who’s gonna scratch on the tables along with the movie to the kung fu,” Greg Gillam says. “And even the occasional rapper who jumps up and raps along with the scene.”

In addition to the DJ battles, Greg Gillam, an independent filmmaker who shoots exclusively with digital film, says they will be showing an original short film called “Monkey” and then end with a grand finale of sorts — a full length feature with a soundtrack being formed right there, live by Greg Gillam’s DJing brother, Brandon Gillam.

“We’ve remastered a classic kung fu film (‘Last Hurrah for Chivalry’), to make it work in a club environment,” Greg Gillam says.

“At the turn of the century, before movies had sound, the characters were really clear — you had a good guy and you had a bad guy,” Greg Gillam says. “The storyline was really simple, and along with these big, broad movements of the story, was the guy playing piano, sort of working the crowd and turning the whole thing into a very live, rowdy experience — which, of course, all disappeared when sound was put on movies. We want to recapture that movie-house spirit.”

“It’s the fine art of matching the mood of what you’re playing with what the audience is seeing,” explains Brandon Gillam.

“If you had to pick an existing film, and try to Cinemix it, kung fu is definitely the way to go,” Greg Gillam says. “It can be re-edited to be very simplistic and clear, and the kung fu has a really good rhythm to it which works well with the music.”

“Every once in awhile you just get a rockin’ beat loop and scratch the hell out of it while the guys swing their swords around,” says Brandon Gillam of his role in Cinemixing.

The final battleground for the warriors who so recently wouldn’t have known the difference between chirp scratching and strobing is People’s Bar & Grill, 2428 Lincoln Way. Subtitles will be available to those who don’t speak Turntablism.

Who: Fu Kung Scratch

Where: People’s Bar & Grill 2428 Lincoln Way

When: 10 p.m. Saturday

Cost: $5