Picture the DC dance club scene. Bodies grinding. Hip-hop. Pricey admission. Ass grabbing. Repetitive Top 40. Long outdoor lines (man, does that suck in the wintertime). Now throw all those preconceptions out the window.

Forget the weird leering men in the corner and the strict dress codes. Just picture getting down with your bad self to The Arcade Fire one minute, The Smiths the next and bringing it home with a bit of The La’s.  How could such a bizarre concoction exist in one venue?

This beautiful cacophony could only be brought together by the DJs of an indie rock dance party. Or indie dance party. Or just dance party. There’s a bit of debate over what exactly they’re called, but the theme is the same - check your house music and Top 40 at the door and just have fun.

“People make fun of that term ‘indie rock dance party’ for sure, because ‘indie’ has been turned into a meaningless term,” said Gavin Holland, one of the founders and DJs for Nouveau Riche, held monthly at DC9. “But at the same time, we all have a sense of what they’re talking about and what they mean.”

For Will Eastman, who’s been in the dance party DJ game a long time, relatively speaking (since the late ‘90s), the term is a new one.

“It’s funny, when we all started doing these in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, that term didn’t exist,” he said. “We were just doing stuff that was very consciously different. There was no such thing as a place you’d go to dance to Blur, Interpol, The Las, The Cure or The Charlatans. ‘Indie rock dance party’ became a catch phrase to refer to everything else besides house nights and hip hop nights. I think it’s accurate that it’s describing the independent spirit for these parties.”

We’re well aware that the indie dance scene isn’t exactly new, but after a few years, it has continued to grow and flourish with nerdy flare and hipster hair. Eastman got into the DJ scene a decade ago in the hopes of creating a night where people could hear “guitar rock you could dance to” mixed with some dance music. He held the first Bliss (currently at Black Cat), probably his most well-known regular event, in September 2000.  Despite the changes and additions to the scene, he hasn’t stopped.

“There are a ton more nights,” he said. “One way it’s evolved is that it’s a lot more diverse musically now. I always played indie pop and indie rock in the beginning, but I mix it up more now, and there are nights dedicated to specific ‘80s genres, electro nights, Baltimore club nights.”

As the dance parties continue to expand the musical umbrella to encompass all things “indie,” it can be challenging to blend so many different genres into an evening. Like water and oil, Cap’n Crunch and Pixy Sticks, and Britney Spears and motherhood, some things just don’t mix. Holland contributes the flow and vibe of the evenings not to himself or other DJs, but to the people for whom the parties are thrown.

“I think the answer is always the crowd on that,” he said. “Nouveau Riche’s crowd is amazing and want to party and have a good time. They’re not coming expecting any one particular thing. They’re just happy when you play something completely unexpected, and that’s a really lucky thing.”

That said, both DJs said they take requests and rarely frown upon any song asked of them. Of course, if you want to be at least a little original, Eastman said, pass on the typical requests such as Madonna, The Cure and Depeche Mode.
Regardless of what you think when you hear the word indie, Holland said the parties are certainly not hipster-only events.
“I think people that you call hipsters definitely come out to these events, but we get all kinds of people. This has really turned into a word of mouth thing and we even get people who don’t know anything about the DC scene, but have just heard about these events.”

Holland said that he doesn’t have any particular lycrazy stories of the typical people-getting-naked variety at Nouveau Riche parties, but his favorite moment plays out in the face of a typical DC club moment.

“Someone tripped over a power cable so our system got shut down for a couple minutes,” he said. “People started clapping to the beat that had been going and cheering, and people started hugging us, and when the sound came on, people just went crazy. I have photos of all these arms up in the air. It was one of the most heartwarming things I’ve ever seen.”

“Fun” seems too simple of an adjective to use when describing these parties. Often held in the back rooms or upstairs of some of DC’s smaller rock venues, fun seems to be the exact message DJs are promoting for their parties.

“Bliss is no attitude, just [a] fun dance party,” Eastman said. “I started doing this because I wanted to do a dance night where there was no velvet rope. I’ve tried to foster that environment ever since. No B.S., just fun. That’s the bottom line.”

FEBRUARY INDIE DANCE PARTY CALENDAR

Every Wednesday: Drunken Jenga with Mister Disco, Rock and Roll Hotel, free. “A night of retro dance-punk and indie pop.” www.rockandrollhoteldc.com.

Every Thursday: Trailer Trash Night with DJ Chris Price, Rock and Roll Hotel, free.“ The best in independent/alternative rock, pop and dance.” www.rockandrollhoteldc.com.

Every Friday: Liberation Dance Party, DC9, $6. “Rock, electronic, hip-hop and music videos.” www.dcnine.com.

Every Friday: La Freak, Napoleon, “Electro funk, disco club, booty bass. ‘90s Miami bass, hip-hop, R&B.”

Feb. 2:  Wag, Black Cat, $5. “‘60s Garage and Soul.” www.blackcatdc.com

Feb. 2: U.B.U. Dance Party, The Red and the Black, $8. “Favorite music of the ‘80s and beyond.” www.redandblackbar.com.

Feb. 7: Blacklight, DC9, $5. “Soul, funk, r&b, hip hop, Go-Go, rap, blues, dance, rock ‘n’ roll...and anything in between.” www.dcnine.com.

Feb. 8: Ready Already, The Red and the Black, $6. “Engage yourself in dance punk, indie pop, and shoegaze all night long.”  www.redandblackbar.com.

Feb. 8: BLACK CATatonia, Black Cat, Free. “’80s, Hip-Hop, Soul, Electronica Dance Night.”  www.blackcatdc.com

Feb. 8: Blisspop, 9:30 Club, $12. www.930.com.

Feb. 9:  Mousetrap, Black Cat, $10. “DC’s Biggest Britpop Dance Night.” www.blackcatdc.com

Feb. 15: ‘80s Mayhem Valentine’s Super ‘80s Dance Party, Black Cat, $10. www.blackcatdc.com

Feb. 16: Right Round, Black Cat, $6., “‘80s Alt-Pop Dance Night.”  www.blackcatdc.com

Feb. 16: Blowoff, 9:30 Club, $12. www.930.com

Feb. 23: Bliss, Black Cat, $6. “Indie, Club, Britpop, ‘80s, Pop, Electro.” www.blackcatdc.com

Feb. 23: Nouveau Riche, DC9, $8. “Hip-hop, techno, indie hits,
dancehall, ‘80s dance-pop.” www.dcnine.com.

Feb. 29:  No Scrubs, Black Cat, $7. “‘90s Dance Party.” www.blackcatdc.com