Move Ya Body: The Birth of House – A Defiant Reclamation of Musical History
Elegance Bratton just delivered the music documentary equivalent of a defibrillator shock to the chest. Move Ya Body: The Birth of House doesn't just tell the story of house music's origins – it reclaims it from the David Guettas of the world and gives it back to the Black, brown, and queer pioneers who created it in Chicago's underground.
The film's pivotal moment comes from one of the most infamous events in music history: Disco Demolition Night, 1979, where 50,000 people showed up to blow up disco records at Comiskey Park. What started as a radio stunt became a racist riot, with crowds chanting "Disco sucks!" at Black teenagers walking home. But here's the beautiful irony – Vince Lawrence, one of those teenagers, would go on to help create house music from disco's ashes.
Bratton weaves together archival footage, dramatizations, and interviews with legends like Lawrence, Jesse Saunders, and Marshall Jefferson to create something more than a history lesson. This is a story of resistance, of marginalized communities creating joy in the face of hatred. The warehouse parties, the underground clubs, the Roland TB-303 bass lines – it all becomes a form of protest that conquered the world.
What makes this essential viewing is how Bratton connects the dots between appropriation then and now. House music is a $5.6 billion industry, yet many of its founders struggle to pay rent. The film shows how, just like blues and rock before it, house only found mainstream acceptance after white DJs sanitized it for mass consumption.
The Sundance premiere was emotional, with Bratton wiping away tears as he introduced the film. You can feel that personal investment in every frame. This isn't just about setting the record straight – it's about ensuring these artists finally get their flowers while they're still alive to smell them. When Bratton says "Move ya body" is an act of defiance, he means it. This documentary makes you want to dance and fight in equal measure.