In Move Ya Body: The Birth of House, director Elegance Bratton doesn’t just document a genre — he resurrects a movement. The film pulses with history, culture, and soul, placing Chicago native and Slang Music founder, Vince Lawrence, at the epicenter of one of music’s most transformative revolutions.
Premiering at Sundance and now heading to Tribeca in June, the documentary retraces how a moment of cultural rejection — 1979’s infamous Disco Demolition Night — lit the fuse for what would become house music. For a 15-year-old Lawrence, that chaotic, racially charged night at Comiskey Park wasn’t just an insult to disco — it was a personal wake-up call. As he walked home, assaulted by chants of “Disco sucks” from strangers, he realized music was more than sound. It was identity. Resistance. A way forward.
Bratton captures this with cinematic reenactments, archival footage, and raw, soul-baring interviews. But Move Ya Body is no dry history lesson. It grooves. It dances. It bleeds emotion. The doc is as much about joy and creativity as it is about struggle. Lawrence, whose first synth was bought with money from odd jobs, emerges not just as a musical innovator but as a young Black man seeking connection in a city shaped by segregation, poverty, and violence. Watch an interview with Vince below:
“To me, the indie film scene feels like a global dance floor—each festival stop is a new city, a new rhythm, and a new crowd vibing with our story. It’s been beautiful to watch Move Ya Body connect with so many different kinds of people, sparking conversations that really matter right now. Having Elegance Bratton, one of the most sought-after directors out there, helm this film centered around my life? Surreal. But the truth is—while I may be the subject of this doc, I could be anybody born Black in Chicago. This is a story about creativity, resilience, and the power of community. Young Black entrepreneurs,” Vince Lawrence told Reel Chicago.
The film also makes space for house’s queer and female pioneers — DJs Celeste Alexander, Lori Branch, and others — whose voices remind us that house music was always about community. About liberation. About reclaiming space on the dancefloor when the world denied it everywhere else.
And Bratton doesn’t shy away from the genre’s darker chapters. He explores the erasure of early Black innovators from the mainstream house narrative and the exploitative business dealings of labels like Trax Records. Lawrence’s complicated relationship with Trax founder Larry Sherman and performer Rachael Cain becomes a lens for deeper questions: Who owns culture? Who profits from it? And who gets left out of the story?
Still, Move Ya Body refuses bitterness. What makes this doc so potent is its love — for the music, for the people who built it, and for the communities that continue to keep its beat alive. With Lawrence’s open-hearted storytelling as its anchor, the film feels like a celebration, a reclamation, and a call to recognize the roots of what’s become a global sound.
Lawrence added, “Elegance and Chester Algernal Gordon have been incredible mentors, generously guiding my team and me through the ins and outs of the filmmaking world and introducing us to some serious movers and shakers. Their passion, care, and commitment have turned this from a film project into a real movement. Black creatives from Chicago have always been a force for good—changing the world through music, art, culture, and business. I’m just proud to be part of that legacy.”
Tribeca audiences will come for the music, but they’ll leave with a deeper understanding of what it means to create — and fight for — a culture of your own.
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