THE STREET LEVEL

Dancing to nostalgic hits is all the rage at clubs on the Eastside.

By Margaret Wappler, Times Staff Writer

HIPSTERS used to frown on dancing. Your typical East Side-living, American Apparel-shopping, art-school- educated type wouldn't be caught dead busting a move at a club or concert. The hipster pose was arms folded and feet grounded, staring straight ahead, maybe nodding your head to the beat now and again.

But dancing is now hipster-approved, the new normal. It has taken over clubs such as La Cita, Safari Sam's, the Echo and the Short Stop. For Vanessa Dabhour, 22, the appeal lies in unfettered, unjudged self-expression. Dancing, for the hipster, is a little bit performance art, a little bit movement therapy. "The true nerd inside me is revealed and gets to hang out for a while," Dabhour said. "We perform together." Nostalgia is another big factor. It's not about dropping the latest house track on the crowd. The DJ will get more of a response from Tone-Loc's "Funky Cold Medina." The moves — the Sprinkler, the Robot — are delivered with whooping irony.

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"We're a subculture that's starved for attention," said Chris Wells, 27. "What better way to draw such attention than convulsing rhythmically to a soundtrack of one-hit wonders we're barely old enough to remember?"