The French aren’t partying like its 1999 on our Independence Day, so it’s not clear why we use their Bastille Day — the storming of a prison that sparked the French Revolution in 1789 — to dance, dance, dance in in Harvard Square.

Still, that’s what we’ve done in years past, and the Harvard Square Business Association, Sandrine’s Bistro and Nantucket Nectars are inviting everyone to do it again today with their “Stormin’ The Bastille: Food & Dance Party” from 5 to 10 p.m.

The first band scheduled is The Field Effect, which performed June 16 at the Make Music Harvard Square/Fete de la Musique and has Richard Bouchard saying in The Phoenix: “Their recordings are top-notch; but where they really shine is the live show. Their sound is massive but never overbearing, and they play it with boundless energy, delivering each note with a sense of pure joy.” At 6 p.m., the All Good::Feel Good Collective promises a “jam band feel with a classic ska and reggae sound.”

And from 7 to 10 p.m. comes French techno from DJ Kamal of the Boston French Party, who has had dancers raving, so to speak, at local Bastille Days dating back to 2008. Kamal uploaded a video after last year’s event in which even infants are seen getting down, albeit up on the back of an adult:

Dancers will need to convert food into energy, though, so it’s a good thing several restaurants from Cambridge and Boston will have offerings on hand. In addition to Sandrine’s Bistro, there will be food from The Beehive, Brasserie Jo, Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe, Chez Henri, Diva Indian Bistro, The Elephant Walk, La Voile, Panera Bread, Petit Robert and Pierrot Bistrot.

Park, a new arrival in the square, will host a beer garden.

This post took significant amounts of information from a press release.