Sidechaining takes one sound and uses it to manipulate another sound. Most often you will see it on compressors, gates, limiters, and expanders.
House music evolved from disco and, consequently, many flavors of house music do not use much distortion at all.
It is safe to say that all dance tracks use lots of compression. House music is especially infamous for its over-the-top compression. But, there is a fine line between tasteful and unbearable.