Nastia marched through 2016 with an unstoppable sense of positivity

Nastia’s online engagement with the issue was proof of her directness and honesty. Not afraid to dissect her performances online, footage of her teaching kids to mix vinyl at her daughter Uliana’s school formed part of a vein of frankness about what it means to be both a mother and a DJ who’s got to where she is by playing over 200 gigs a year.

It was the UK that provided much of her musical inspiration. Joy Orbison and Ben UFO for their eclectic tastes, which echo her own restless inclination to move between house, techno, breakbeat, electro, bass and even drum ’n’ bass, and Special Request – in particular his remix of Top Cat’s ‘Special Request’. “I get so high from that track it reminds me of the energy I had in the video of Kazantip from 2009,” she says, referring to the footage that first brought her to the attention of the world: her playing minimal techno at the festival she was resident at from 2006–2011.

Breaking free from the confines of being a straight up techno DJ has been an emotional challenge but it’s also where she’s thrived. “I love to play minimal, broken, experimental shit in the middle of my set so people get freaked out,” she grins. “You’ve brought something different – it’s not the same rhythm or loopy tracks. You’ve changed the mood, and that’s the best moment a DJ can have.”