It was in issue nine of M that we asked if dance was losing its lustre. At the time, the music industry’s purse strings were being tightened as digital claimed its first victims. Labels, clubs, festivals and djs alike were finding it hard to adapt. At the time, we wondered if we were facing a future without bpm’s?
Fast forward to 2006. Dance music isn’t dead or even dying. Come 6am on a Sunday it’s hard to believe there was ever any doubt. From the beginning of your evening to the last dregs of it come dawn, your night has been accompanied by enough twisted beats to ensure the survival of any genre. Guitars may be out-selling decks again but dance music is morphing and the visionaries in the scene are doing the business; big business. There are now many mini-genres out there - house, breaks, electro, progressive, trance, grime, acid, soulful, hard, minimal, drum’n’bass, garage, hip hop, chill – and the determined artists, djs, promoters and labels are delivering the goods.
After a wobble when the licensing laws changed, it didn’t take long for the uncertainty to give way to the 24 hour party. In fact, the licensing laws have changed the way we club – later starts, more visits to more venues – and the clubs have responded. Fabric is showing faith in the mini-genres and the Ministry of Sound has become a credible force again. The so-called superclubs have focused on the music once more, setting up labels that are becoming benchmarks and putting on nights that are defining dance rather than 
reflecting it.
'guitars may be out-selling decks but dance is morphing and the determined are delivering the goods'
And it’s a party reflected in the national charts. The compilation chart is dominated by dance. Now That’s What I Call Dance 2006 leads a pack including several Ministry of Sound releases, a handful of club classic collections and some funky sweetness courtesy of Hed Kandi. 2006 was the year that Madonna reclaimed her roots with Confessions On The Dancefloor; a dance album co-written with and produced by Stuart Price. Madonna certainly knew that dance wasn’t dead. Even Robbie Williams is in on the act with Rudebox - enlisting amongst others William Orbit, Soul Mekanik, Joey Negro and Mark Ronson.
Dance music’s single action isn’t bad either with Fedde Le Grande’s electro house monster Put Your Hands Up For Detroit reaching the number one slot. Ben Cook, A&R Director at Ministry Of Sound explains:’Dance is broadly in rude health, we are enjoying a more creative patch musically with records like Fedde and Bodyrox breaking new ground and appealing to a broad swathe of people.’ Cook argues that market wise, dance single sales have benefited from the digital revolution: ‘it is a genre which has been less artist-led than others, so single track downloading mirrors the traditional purchasing habits of dance consumers. Across other genres digital single sales generally follow airplay, but digital dance sales often spike out of this relationship and outperform airplay significantly. Media has been very slow to catch up with dance and points of entry are getting further reduced – particularly on the radio. Luckily Radio One and a handful of others have picked up the slack – and are being rewarded with strong testing for dance.’
And it’s that desire to direct our future basslines and deliver that’s firing dance artists into the twenty first century. It’s that word morph again and right now there is no one better at it than The Egg. Take them, their track Walking Away, then add a David Guetta bootleg, a Tocadisco remix and a certain car ad and you have a highly spun chartsmasher. 
Is this mash-up collective collaboration where British dance music is right now? Egghead Maff Scott, a PRS member since 1997 thinks so: ‘There’s a shoegazing feel coming in to rock now, so playing with guitar effects kind of opens up all textural possibilities in dance. Hopefully dance will become less obvious, have more leftfield ideas. I think creative British people are very good at that and some of what The Egg do is much less commercial (or danceable!) than the Citroen ad. But hopefully we can expand on that with maybe funk, house, breakbeat, whatever, letting it cross over with experimental ideas but not in a re-hashed way.’
So rock is dance music’s new friend? Scott believes so, ‘It was weird seeing Coldplay at Glastonbury for instance. As soon as they did the Kylie cover, played with the disco bassline, there was suddenly a unity that seemed to spread across the audience that hadn’t been seen since the “E-days”!’ Scott is confident it’s the right direction: ‘It’s a good thing that bands are doing it now because it’s good music, so as long as it’s not treated like a fashionable thing, but as a mind set - then the future looks fine and dandy!’
John Truelove is also certain of dance music’s healthy state. He may be a dance music devil’s advocate but he’s living proof the genre is light years away from pushing up the daisies. His track You Got The Love seems to be endlessly reinvented and re-released (the track – and house music – was used as the season closer for Sex in the City. Truelove is a true believer: ‘As a music publisher specialising exclusively in dance and electronica we have just had our best year ever, but we have seen many dance labels and distributors suffering massively.
Nevertheless the vibrancy of the scene(s) and the quality of the music being released is as strong as ever. The vast eclectic variety of dance music that is available and which you can go out to hear played in clubs and bars is staggering.’ So is that for John the future of dance? ‘Whatever is next, and it’s anyone’s guess, it will be as much of an excitement and a surprise as the last changes. People are still partying, and so they will continue.’
All is good then? Maybe. Ben Turner director of Graphite Media, producer of Pacha Magazine, founding editor of Muzik Magazine and now manager of artists including Radio One’s Rob da Bank, Steve Lawler and the MYNC Project provides a reality check: ‘The toughest question for dance music now is the demise of the dj mix album, hence why artists are making decisions about writing their first artist album, and seriously taking time out from the lucrative dj circuit to make music. It’s the holy grail for international djs to prove themselves as recording artists, and whilst 95% of djs have failed, those who succeed will open up doors into film and TV – Paul Oakenfold, David Holmes etc. Writing and creating music for film and TV is the endgame for the dj and producer, and right now it’s wide open for other artists to experience. It can’t all go Oakenfold’s way!’
'the eclectic vibrancy of the scene and the quality of the music being released is as strong as ever'
But even with that reality check, like all those involved in the industry, Turner’s love of the bass line shows through. How can a kind of music that regularly requires hands in the air not keep your outlook positive? Even digital downloads – the supposed vinyl and therefore dance music killer - is becoming the dj’s friend. As Turner explains: ‘I am proud to have been pro-active in Steve Lawler’s decision to stay in the dance label market by launching a digital-only label venture titled Viva Music.
www.vivamusicstore.com is an exciting, dynamic label environment, where turnover is quick and with low-cost, whilst Viva Music the label is a pioneering venture that allows an artist as busy as Steve Lawler to remain in the A&R game without it stifling his creativity. We know it’s the future and so we believe we’re ahead of the game.’
Turner is also quick to sing some hallelujahs to the new heroes of dance: ‘Look at Hot Chip, Simian Mobile Disco or Rob da Bank. People are embracing all genres, and the artist is coming back. Watching Hot Chip in the outdoors at Bestival reminded me of seeing Underworld in 1993 in terms of creativity, energy, and music that won’t leave you alone! It’s so exciting to see bands like this explode onto the scene. They are a true album act with fields of room to express themselves going forward.’
Dj Magazine recently declared Paul van Dyk the world’s number one dj for the second year running. Trance in all its guises dominated, be it progressive, tech, electro or techno touched. And staggeringly for a genre supposedly departing this sound world, the Dj Mag Top 100 Dj Poll saw 217,102 people vote from over 229 different countries. It seems someone forgot to tell the dancefloor their chosen soundtrack is obsolete.
Yes, however you feel the dance vibe, be it via iPod, dj, radio or festival, one thing is certain - it’s moving forward and the beat Britain has been dancing to since the early nineties is not going anywhere. As a nation we are still following a groove and whilst that groove maybe taking many different turns we are assured of one thing. It’s gonna keep a grin on our dancing faces.