One of the continuing features of the Milwaukee Film Festival is an emphasis on music documentaries, courtesy of its Sound Vision program. And music documentaries are unlikely just to be a dry recitation of facts, but get into the cultural and geographic aspects of where the music comes from. And that’s one of the principal strengths of MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE.
I’ll admit that I know of House Music by not much about House Music so on a basic introduction level MOVE YA BODY is a great primer. Especially as it takes great effort to go into the origins in the underground dance clubs of Chicago (my first real surprise as I had no idea it originated so close to home). Albeit, the Chicago of the 70s and early 80s that gave Birth to House Music was a much different experience than my childhood in the suburbs of Milwaukee.
Principally framed through the experiences of Vince Lawrence, MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE goes to great depth to explore the cultural history of Chicago, including segregation, the Civil Rights movement, and the rise of disco and the fall of rock. And, of course, the infamous Disco Demolition Night event. You can see White America pushing back against the inroads of Black America. But, people love music, people want to dance, and Black culture is not going away just because a bunch of white people didn’t like a particular style of music, so it wasn’t long before the forces that created disco rebounded. The film makes an argument that disco basically split into two streams, House and Hip Hop and while Hip Hop is given some attention, it’s kept brief to get to the main subject.
What I think is most notable about MOVE YA BODY… is that it understands how to link creating the music to the business of getting the music to the people that wanted to listen and dance to it. It’s somewhat funny in retrospective, that the homophobia of gangs created a safe outlet for House Music to flourish and Vince Lawrence recognized that demand and figured out how to get records pressed and into the hands of appreciative DJs. And while the rest is not just history, there’s a directness in how House Music developed. Which links nicely to how House Music is characterized, layered tracks with an emphasis on a strong beat. And recognizing that a movement will wither and die without it getting to the public and figuring out how to meet the demand.
And then comes the point where corporate white business tries to assimilate the music for their own benefit. But, perhaps fortunately, they don’t quite understand it or think they’re too early. Hmm, if only there was a movie out now that would like to explore those ideas…
I ended up very appreciative of the film and what I learned. It’s helped by Vince Lawrence being an engaging and knowledgeable guide. It’s also helped by a thumping soundtrack that makes its case clearly. There are perhaps some grudges that maybe aren’t best aired in the context of a film, who deserves credit for what, and I don’t doubt that there were financial and ethical liberties taken with creators, but those issues seem tacked on at the end. And House Music’s place in queer culture, is probably given shorter shrift than it deserves, along with how it helped bridge queer and straight culture in a lot of ways. Which is only saying that MOVE YA BODY… can’t and isn’t going to be the final, definitive word on the subject, just an important word. And that’s more than enough to recommend it.
The 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival runs from April 24, 2025 until May 8, 2025. MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE plays once more at the 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival on Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM at the Downer Theater. Tickets to MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE and other films can be purchased at MKEFILM.ORG.
