Last week marked Amsterdam Dance Event 2011, the European electronic music conference that has become the premier gathering of dance music professionals looking to get business done during the day while still hitting the best parties at night. It took us a week to recover from our ADE adventure, but without further adieu, here’s the top moments from this year’s agenda—only a few of which took place behind the decks.

A broad title for a very broad panel. The focus on gender inequalities in dance music boasted DJs Heidi and Magda, and from the music business sphere; Melissa Taylor founder of Tailored Communications and Olga Zegers of the dutch promotion company ID&T. While this topic was very valid and interesting, and to the moderators surprise “drew much more men than expected,” the lack of direction for such a complex and broad topic unfortunately drew fewer conclusions and rather magnified the confusion.

Running in circles prevailed as the women tried to articulate a very complicated gender issue within 45 minutes. Topics touched included; should there be gender discussions or should this not be a focus? Are women taking steps in the right direction, or is Paris Hilton’s upcoming DJ career erasing some of the work done? Are the ‘token chic’s’ as Heidi called them, enough to satisfy the inequalities for now, or are tokens not enough in the male dominated game? If a conclusion can be drawn from this panel, it is that the women working within the dance music community may be just be as conflicted and confused by the dynamics as those looking in. Kristen McElwain