It’s a Sober Event That Doesn’t Feel Like One: Inside LA’s Booze-Free Dance Party Movement

These dance parties are not about escaping reality, but about the participants finding themselves.

Participants dance at sunset during the Natural High alcohol-free party at Elysian Park on Sept. 9, 2023, in Los Angeles. Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

By Danielle Dorsey From Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES—In the crests of Elysian Park overlooking Dodger Stadium and downtown L.A., a group has formed a makeshift dance floor on an asphalt plateau tucked away from the park’s dusty trails and grassy hills. Funky soul music flows from two standing speakers as a DJ mixes on digital turntables between them. Everyone dances with abandon, jumping from side to side, twirling and stretching their arms overhead to salute the high afternoon sun. At one point, they link elbows and dance-skip in a joined circle.