11 times dance music broke our heart in 2016

2016 took its toll on dance music. Every month there seemed to be a new shockwave making its way through the scene.

These things – like clubs closing down or DJs quitting due to depression – have lasting effects and it's important to talk about them in order to move forward.

Below, our team reflect on some of the things that hit the last 12 months the hardest.

And here's 12 times dance music made us glad to be alive in '16

For decades, the dancefloor has served as a safe space. On June 12, eager parties sought exactly that as they donned their weekend best and headed to the LGBT venue Pulse in Orlando, Florida. It seemed unfathomable to imagine that a night meant for fun and dancing could end in the horrifying tragedy that was the loss of 49 innocent lives. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. The attack struck many deeply as both a terrifying hate crime against the LGBT community, but also a statement threatening the safety that many seek in a night out among friends on a dancefloor.

Months later, Mixmag's US team arrived at EDC Orlando to run the Smirnoff House and decided it would only be right to invite the Pulse Nightclub DJs to join us for several sets to honor the city and its scars following the incident. Four DJs representing Pulse arrived, eager, excited and so thankful for the opportunity to play. One of the four, an original resident DJ named Ressie Cups, carried an infectious, bright attitude, making it nearly impossible to believe that she'd lived through the story she began to tell about being at the nightclub on the night of the shooting.

She recounted running as quickly as she could out of Pulse, clutching her girlfriend's hand, thinking that the first gunshot was merely a club spat gone wrong. "But then the shots didn't stop," she paused. As one of few staff allowed to reenter the club days after the shooting, she detailed the numerous bullet holes she saw in the walls. The floor, which had been removed due to there being so much blood. Later, Ressie Cups pulled aside her friend and fellow resident DJ (named DJ Flawless) and revealed a gift: a pair of vinyl slip mats with the names of all 49 victims killed at Pulse Nightclub written in rainbow colors. "Always, for them," she said.

Their story was chilling, but what stayed with me were their unbreakable spirit and excitement for the art of DJing, despite having lived through a real life horror story. Valerie Lee, US Digital Editor

100% Silk epitomises everything great about underground dance music. It's a DIY-run label that encourages developing artists and gives them an outlet for experimentation. It’s common now for labels to be cold, closed shops, with a “no demos” policy inscribed blankly on their websites. 100% Silk is the opposite, an open set of ears welcoming in burgeoning talents and, in turn, incubating communities. This makes the fire at Oakland art space The Ghost Ship during a 100% Silk label party at the start of December acutely devastating. 36 people died, in a building full of beautiful, passionate souls out to have a good time and celebrate their love for music. Dance music thrives off its tight knit collectives, and 100% Silk is one of the best proponents of this essential foundation of our culture. You can donate to the Fire Relief Fund for Victims of Ghostship Oakland Fire here. Patrick Hinton, Digital Staff Writer

It's been far from an easy year on the topic of women in music. In fact, a quick glance through 2016 is a heartbreaking reminder that while awareness towards misogyny and sexism has improved, it remains a rampant problem with plenty room for progress.

The year began with a scandal that rocked the music industry when Heathcliff Berru was publicly accused for sexual harassment by artist Amber Coffman of Dirty Projectors, which spurred an outpouring of heart wrenching stories from a handful of other women that detailed similar sexual harassment and assault experiences. The controversy set the tone for a rocky year that continued to unveil the ugly side of what it's like being a woman in the music industry.

Elsewhere, in pop music, Kesha made headlines for coming forward against renowned producer Dr Luke for allegedly drugging and raping her, as well as emotionally abusing her for over five years. Despite widespread attention on her case, the New York Supreme Court denied a preliminary injunction that would have allowed her to escape her binding six-album contract under the producer.

Our latest cover star, The Black Madonna, shared her sobering story about the "cost of doing business" as a woman in the industry: "I’m a woman who has been in the industry for 25 years almost. I am a woman who learned about Underground Resistance from the first guy that ever put a bruise on me. I am a woman that has almost been sexually assaulted by a peer at an after-party. And while I’m not a counsellor, I’m a woman that has lived through a lot of the shit that other women have lived through—and that is taken for granted as ‘the cost of doing business’ in this industry."

Mixmag found it necessary to address the topic from a different perspective as well with a piece titled What To Do If You Get Sexually Harassed in a Nightclub, outlining an experience that is all too familiar to women on any dancefloor. And Madonna capped off the year perhaps most powerfully during her acceptance of Billboard's Woman of the Year Award when she shocked the audience by detailing early traumas of her youth - raped at knifepoint, held at gunpoint - before pointing to the same, age old sexism problem. "What I would like to say to all women here today is this: Women have been so oppressed for so long they believe what men have to say about them. They believe they have to back a man to get the job done. As women, we have to start appreciating our own worth and each other's worth. Seek out strong women to befriend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to collaborate with, to be inspired by, to support, and enlightened by."

May 2016 be an important reminder that while there's been positive steps towards change, that there's still plenty of work to be done. Valerie Lee, US Digital Editor

Sadly, Summer 2016 saw a total of three deaths at one mega festival in Southern California. The three young adults, all in their early 20s, reportedly passed away of acute MDMA toxicity. There were no drug testing stations on site, it was extremely hot weather, and water wasn't as easy to come by as it should've been, so could these deaths have been preventable with increased drug education? Well, the response this year from the dance music community has been 'yes' and now giant festival promoters such as Insomniac are starting to hear us out. The first evidence of a change came with the largest of festival companies, Insomniac announcing they've teamed up with the Drug Policy Alliance to show attendees that raving can be done responsibly. We can only hope that 2017 brings more and more promoters into the spotlight and these preventable festival deaths are indeed prevented. Carré Orenstein, Partnerships Manager

London clubland has been going through turbulent times for a number of years now. We all know the feeling of frustration induced by the tendrils of gentrification suffocating the scene, but it’s an emotion that doesn’t come close to the depth of loss felt by the Studio 338 fire and death of worker Tomas Ceidukas in August. The images were harrowing; a raging inferno, literally not metaphorically, tearing through our culture. I was with a friend and employee of the Greenwich nightspot in Amsterdam airport heading back from Dekmantel when the blaze took over 338. This proximity to someone closely associated with the tragedy made it all the more real: the panic as she tried and failed to get through to friends and colleagues, mind sick with the darkest possibilities. It’s fair to say we were already feeling slightly fragile, and this news sent post-festival blues spiralling into heartbreak. RIP Tomas. Patrick Hinton, Digital Staff Writer

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird kicked off the year by declaring he’d consider banning festivals in and around Sydney after a woman was hospitalised and people were caught with drugs at New Year’s Day favourite Field Day. About 11 of the 184 caught were then handed criminal records despite being first-time offenders with as little as two caps on them. That pretty much set the tone for the next 12 months, to which we’d attached some hope could bring a change to the city’s 1.30am and 3am last drinks laws. February marked two years since the restrictions were imposed on central Sydney, strangling many of its bars and clubs, and an official review into their impact on safety, businesses and other aspects of nightlife was on the cards. But the Callinan review only recommended each law be moved back half an hour, which is now set to be introduced next year, doing little to help the music scene. It’s a small step in the right direction to #KeepSydneyOpen though. Hopefully the city will take a few more in 2017. Scott Carbines, Australian Digital Content Editor

The team behind Bloc have made a habit of shooting themselves in the foot. After hitting the perfect festival formula with a five-year run of sold-out holiday park weekenders, the decision was taken to move to the London Pleasure Gardens for the disastrous 2012 event that was promptly shut down on its opening night after chaotic organisational issues. And then once they’d picked up the pieces and returned, throwing a final weird, wonderful bash in Butlins this March, co-founder George Hull cut through the warm festival afterglow with his razor sharp words slagging off all the attendees in The Spectator, taking issue with things like a perceived lack of hedonism among the youth and volunteers providing free labour requesting vegan meals. It shocked me so much I nearly spat out my organic chamomile green tea infusion. Patrick Hinton, Digital Staff Writer

In an industry that characteristically demands constant travel, lack of sleep, immense highs and lows and long periods of isolation, touring DJs are systematically set up to develop destructive mental illnesses with no resources or aid to help them.

Although 2016 led to conversation and increased open mindedness on the issue, it also brought to light the unspeakable fragility and deteriorating mental health spanning across the dance music world. Previously, Benga was one of the first artists to speak transparently on the matter, candidly admitting that schizophrenia was brought on by excessive touring and his bipolar disorder was a result of drug use.

This year, Ben Pearce revealed that the exhausting demands of electronic music exacerbated his depression to a point where, despite professional help, he was forced to cancel all upcoming shows. Sasha, on the cusp of a new tour with John Digweed, disclosed accounts of terrifying battles with anxiety throughout his early career, where the holy grail of playing music would tragically become his worst enemy. Then there was Erick Morillo, who after years of silence spoke on his crushing ketamine addiction.

Organizations such as Help Musicians UK fight the taboo of mental health, and although a clear step in the right direction, studies have shown that 65 per cent of artists have reported suffering from these conditions, but the majority are still hiding in the dark. Sydney Jow, US Digital Content Editor

Let’s face it, everything that happened with fabric this year was heartbreaking. Of course it’s open again now and although the rules are more rigid than hoped, we were thrilled that the institution could once again actually be an institution.

Saying that, one of the most harrowing, bizarre and draining experiences for me in 2016 was sitting in the hearing at Islington Town Hall to see whether the club would keep its licence. For seven hours, I sat in that court room tweeting and keeping the world up to date with proceedings. It was obviously one sided from the off and not in fabric’s favour – it was hard to listen to at times and was a genuinely sad experience. Knowing there were so many staff members whose jobs and livelihoods hung in the balance meant so much was at stake.

When the decision was made to revoke the licence, the room fell silent, as in completely, deadly silent. It was fucking horrible and I was shaking. I got home just after 2am and couldn’t sleep for hours. Like I said, despite the club being reopened again, I’ve never had a music-related experience that's been so stark before. That night, my heart got broken a little bit and I’ll never forget it. Funster, Deputy Digital Editor

Dance music has its roots in the world’s great cities but its positive vibes run deep all the way to small drought-stricken communities in the Australian bush. Each summer a host of festivals held outside tiny rural towns help boost the local economies as road trippers from Melbourne and Sydney roll through for booze, water and other much-needed supplies for days of clubbing in the heat.

Unfortunately, this year, locals in the town of Charlton near Maitreya’s planned 10^th anniversary site at Lake Wooroonook about three hours from Melbourne missed out when the festival was cancelled one day before it was due to begin in March after organisers failed to get a permit from the Buloke Shire Council. Authorities said the festival hadn’t provided necessary management plans and would not budge on the issue as organisers maintained the party was happening.

I was among thousands of people disappointed that an opportunity to get down in the dust looked to be going astray, but the efforts of a group of locals were inspiring. Members of the ‘Save Maitreya’ Facebook group worked 24/7 in the weeks leading up to the planned festival to try and get it to go ahead, holding meetings, writing letters, analysing clauses in council documents for loopholes and offering alternative sites on their own private farms to be taken over with house and techno. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. But at least the commitment to the rave (nearly) made up for missing the actual event. Scott Carbines, Australian Digital Content Editor

On a Monday morning in June I found that I couldn't physically stand up while trying to get out of bed. The room was spinning, I'd completely lost my balance and I felt incredibly sick. In the days after I found out I'd been struck by an inner ear infection called Labyrinthitis and in the weeks after that, it became clear that I'd suffered severe hearing loss and raging tinnitus in my right ear. It's unlikely I'll regain my hearing and it's widely believed that tinnitus is incurable, so I'm now dealing with being half deaf and re-evaluating my relationship with clubs and music in general. This kind of thing is devastating and could happen to anyone, so I wanted to remind you to look after your ears, your health and enjoy every moment of this life affirming culture that we find ourselves in. Seb Wheeler, Head Of Digital