If you’re a Christmas orphan, or just looking to ditch the family after dark and blow off some holiday steam, you couldn’t ask for a better present than Talcum’s Northern Soul dance party. Hosted by Seattle’s top-notch Emerald City Soul Club, Talcum is a festive affair year ‘round, lubricated by a light dusting of the eponymous white powder on its dance floor and by the always ace selections of its DJs, whose knowledgeable taste and crates of rare soul ‘45s is rightly legendary. Deep as those crates go, though, it isn’t some obscurantist pissing-contest; everything is groovy, upbeat, and even the songs you don’t know feel totally familiar, a vintage sound that’s basically in America’s veins. Dress up, dress down, but have your dancing shoes on. ERIC GRANDY

Sun., Dec. 25, 9 p.m., 2011