Amid venue closures, police raids and the rising cost of nightlife, clubs have become increasingly endangered in 2025. As a result, it’s become the subject of panel talks, crowdfunding campaigns, and a slew of thinkpieces asking what nightlife is worth and who it’s really for.

And yet, with the club more endangered than ever, it was the people who showed up who kept things moving. Promoters, performers, dancers and door staff continued to turn up night after night, refusing to let the lights go out quietly. In the face of uncertainty, the dance floor remained a place of resistance.

Tracing this lineage of resistance came a surge in the documentation of raving’s bygone eras: photo series capturing dancers seeing the morning in and the lights coming up – frozen moments from different points in club history, shot years or even decades ago, but only now finding a wider audience.

Whether as an escape from the tumultuous landscape of 2025 or the pure pursuit of hedonism, people continued to show up for the club, and some continued to document it. From dance floors across the globe, below are some of Dazed’s favourite club photo stories of the year.

NEVER SLEEP, MANGA CORPS

Manga Corps revisits the apex of Japan’s chaotic J-core scene through photographs and flyers from the 1990s and early 2000s. Featuring images by Yamamoto Shigetomo alongside ephemera curated by Gabber Eleganza, the series documents a hyper-specific moment when hardcore techno, gaming culture, and DIY design collided. 

Read the full story here on Dazed.

IMOGEN, HOWL PRIDE

Pulling from the sweaty dance floors of Hackney Wick, HOWL Pride documents one of London’s heady queer raves. This photo series captures a day-and-night alternative to the city’s corporate Pride, shot straight from the crowd. Shots of embrace, g-strings rising over sweaty lower backs, and a crowd of clubbers piled around the CDJs capture the togetherness that spaces like HOWL cultivate.

Read the full story here on Dazed.

BERNICE MULENGA, LMK WHEN U REACH

LMK WHEN U REACH documents an archive of Black queer dance floor culture through friendships, family, love, and lust on the floors of the “hottest, sweatiest parties ever.” Through considered documentation, Mulenga preserves and celebrates these spaces as vital sites where hedonism and collective care exist side by side.

Read the full story here on Dazed.

SHADOWS GATHER, IN CLUB WE TRUST

In Club We Trust captures the sacred, sweaty heart of Denver’s queer nightlife over one unforgettable night at an alt-drag show. Between shots of clown make-up, weeping Virgin Mary cosplays, tangled rosaries, and shiny latex masks, the series captures the community for who going out is a religious rite.

Read the full story here on Dazed.

SOKOL, A NIGHT

A Night captures China’s underground club scene in flux, from Chengdu’s high-rise venues to Shanghai’s neon-flooded floors and small industrial spaces across the country. The series follows a community navigating closures, shifting networks, and the post-pandemic rise of brand-backed events, all while celebrating the clubbers who keep the scene moving despite it all.

Read the full story here on Dazed.

YUSHY, SECTION 63

From the pit of London’s underground rave scene from 2022 to 2025, Section 63 follows packed-out crowds into sweaty basements and warehouse parties where community thrived despite government crackdowns. Named after the infamous 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, introduced in response to the UK’s early-90s free party movement, the series backs the idea that the best raves are born out of resistance.

Read the full story here on Dazed.

PDA, LIZ JOHNSON ARTUR 

PDA captures London’s now-iconic Kingsland Road club night, a site of glamour and chaos where Black and Brown queer communities could exist freely, away from the conventions and systems upheld by the UK’s patriarchal imperialism. Shot entirely on analogue film, Liz Johnson Artur followed dancers, friends, and performers as they came together to make the night a sanctuary for over a decade.

Read the full story here on Dazed.

ANFANG/BEGINNING: BERLIN 1994-99, CHRISTIAN STEMMLER

ANFANG/BEGINNING: BERLIN 1994-99 captures Berlin just after the fall of the Wall, when abandoned squats and industrial ruins became playgrounds for a generation discovering freedom in nightlife. Shot on film between 1994 and 1999, the series traces the city’s youth building community, laying the groundwork for the Berlin club scene we know today.

Read the full story here on Dazed.

WHOLE, SZYMON STĘPNIAK

This series captures the messy, euphoric utopia building of WHOLE Festival, Berlin’s annual queer summer gathering in Ferropolis. From stages framed by industrial ruins to ambient lakeside chill-outs, the series captures the moments of ecstatic dancing, tender embraces, and communal release that have become central to the festival’s identity.

Read the full story here on Dazed.

JULIEN TELL,.TAG

.TAG captures the final nights of the eponymous Chengdu club, found on the 21st floor of one of the city’s looming skyscrapers. The immersive series traces clubbers sharing hotpot, getting massages and cupping, and sweating it all out on the sky-high dance floor until the light pours in and the city wakes up. Here, photographer Julien Tell immortalises a place where Chengdu’s queer nightlife thrived – even as the doors close for the last time.

Read the full story here on Dazed.