After the showing of “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” during the Milwaukee Film Festival at the Oriental Theater, the film’s subject Vince Lawrence recounted his first meeting with Hillary Clinton, a producer on this film. Vince had a smile from ear to ear while he told us what she thought of the prospect of making the film: “This film is like chocolate-covered broccoli!”
Upon seeing the full film, the former Secretary of State was correct. Directed by Elegance Bratton (“Pier Kids”, “The Inspection”), “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” tells the story of the rise of house music and the artists that formed a genre that had Black Queer artists at the forefront.
The documentary also tells of the history and the racist implications behind the Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park. This event was a Major League Baseball sponsored event that saw a crate filled with disco records destroyed with dynamite , which later lead to a riot.
The film’s primary subject, Vince Lawrence, is a music producer and has been since childhood. His passion for music comes from going on tour with Eddie Thomas of Curtom Records, whom his father had worked with. He was the band’s pyrotechnician, but what really kept him invested during the tour was the synthesizers the band used.
The band member who played the synthesizers offered him a job at Comiskey Park as an usher. Can you guess what happened the night he worked? Safe to say the job didn’t go as planned.
Disco Demolition Night, an event meant to cause hate, transformed the music landscape, but not in the way they intended. The events that transpired that night inspired Vince to delve deeper into music, leading him to popularize house music, a genre of music fueled with love and connection.
The documentary is somewhat unorthodox in its visual storytelling. The film uses a combination of archive footage, interviews, photos, and dramatizations to communicate the story to the audience.
The documentary’s use of cutting between different formats is used especially well during its display of the Disco Demolition Night. The film shifts from archival footage to interviews with subjects to dramatizations and repeating and mixing to create a near horror-like scene. It truly is a masterclass in editing.
The story of “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” is not only fascinating for the information being presented of the history behind the genre, but also the emotional weight that the documentary displays gracefully. Vince Lawrence and his legacy as one of the founders of house music sits with you after the credits roll.
“Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” is a celebration of house music and the people who founded it. A deep look at not just the music industry, but the perception of those at the forefront, and about who really gets credit for their work.
Well, Hillary Clinton might’ve been right. This really is chocolate-covered broccoli.