House” Still Has a Home!
From stories of marginalized communities to explorations of identity, award-winning director Elegance Bratton has consistently brought untold narratives to the forefront of cinema, sparking dialogue and celebrating the resilience of the human spirit.
Bratton is an award-winning and boundary-breaking director, writer, and producer. He began making films as a U.S. Marine after spending a decade homeless. His work captures untold stories, intending to show the universal power of our shared humanity. Bratton’s films have played in over 200 film festivals worldwide, including the New York Film Festival, Toronto, Sundance, Outfest, BFI, Doc NYC, and the BlackStar Film Festival. He was named one of VARIETY’s 10 Directors to Watch for 2023. As a director, his films include The Inspection, Pier Kids, and Hell Fighter.
His most recent film, Move Ya Body: The Birth of House, opened the Doc 10 Film Festival last week. The film offers a revelatory chronicle of House’s humble roots, explosive influence, and inevitable exploitation, celebrating its unique power to liberate listeners and bring all types of people together.
Reggie Ponder sat down with the Award-Winning Director to discuss the movie and this music form that is near and dear to the heart of Chicago.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: Being from Chicago, and having a non-Chicagoan doing a film about House Music, I have to ask, what do you know about House Music?
Elegance Bratton: What I know about House Music is that it makes me feel good. It’s helped me meet the love of my life, and I love House Music with every fiber of my being.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: Okay, I guess you really do know a bit about House Music. What exactly is House Music, in your estimation?
Elegance Bratton: To me, House Music is a part of the ever-expanding and never-ending soundtrack of freedom and liberation for Black people. House Music is most definitely cultural, but it’s a cultural phenomenon that’s unified around a “four on the floor” beat. And Vince Lawrence says so brilliantly in the film, disco music was orange juice, House Music is the Tang. It is the distilled elements that make us dance in a disco song, played infinitely throughout the night to continue to drive people to the dance floor, to drive people to a space where, you know, maybe in your day-to-day life, you may not have all of the freedom and value that you feel like you deserve, but at a house party, all you gotta do is just dance to the beat and you got a community of people that supports you and loves you. It knows no racial boundaries. It just doesn’t care about sexuality. House Music is just about joy and love and togetherness. And so when you ask, is it cultural? Is it music? The music is the culture. The people are the music.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: Move Ya Body: The Birth of House is the opening night film at Chicago’s own Doc 10 Film Festival. Tell us about the film and a bit about the festival.
Elegance Bratton: Move Ya Body: The Birth of House is all about what it says—the birth of House Music. In the late seventies in Chicago, there’s this thing called disco demolition. 50,000 white people showed at Comiskey Park Baseball Stadium with disco records and really any Black music they could get their hands on for a discounted price, and they ended up blowing up all those records in an attempt to intimidate the local Black community and keep them in their place. Little did they know that working at this stadium was Vince Lawrence, a 14-year-old usher, a Black kid saving up money to buy his first synthesizer. That synthesizer would create the first House song, which would keep dance music alive forever. That just inspired me so much to learn his story and to get an opportunity to tell it, and to tell the story of so many Chicago House Music pioneers in the film. And to do it at Doc 10 was a dream come true. Doc 10 is one of the most prestigious documentary film festivals in the world. I think those that came out to see Move Ya Body on April 30th left feeling that, at the end of the day, this movie is a dance party. So if you want to see a film that will inspire you to continue to hold true to the values of diversity, togetherness, and progressiveness while dancing in your seat, this is a film for you.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: I love that answer, and you probably know that Chicago claims House Music with all our heart. But my New Yorker friends claim it as well. Can you, for once and for all, settle the debate and tell us what’s the birthplace of House Music?
Elegance Bratton: The birthplace of House Music is Chicago, Illinois. I would say that the birthplace of House culture is both New York and Chicago and Detroit and Paris and Brazil—wherever that culture of togetherness is, and wherever you listen to this type of dance music to collaborate and commune. But in terms of the genre, as far as I’m concerned, that’s one of the arguments of the film. It is the recording of music on wax so that it can be sold and that culture can spread through that sale. That is Chicago. That is Vince Lawrence. And that’s the end of the story.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: You speak about how House Music was essentially birthed out of The Warehouse in Chicago, which was a refuge for the LGBTQ+ community. Is there any backlash to telling that part of the story?
Elegance Bratton: I won’t mention any names, but one House Music pioneer refused to interview with us. When we called to request an interview, he asked, “Are you gay?” And I was just like, what does that have to do with anything? We answered yes, but asked, Why would that matter? He answered, “It seems like everybody’s trying to say that House Music is gay, and I’m straight, and most of the people who made House records were straight. And I don’t want to contribute to something that would take my legacy and give it to gay people.” I thought y’all went to Frankie Knuckles’ party at The Warehouse, which was a gay party. Y’all all went to all these gay parties and you saw the vibes and you saw the straight women in these rooms and you said, hey, I wanna get that vibe. I want these women to come hang out with me. And you created House songs. I was shocked at that type of homophobia.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: Well, let’s talk a bit about the music. You put so many of the iconic songs on display for House Music and dance lovers: Fantasy, On and On, Love Can’t Turn Around. The music was fire!
Elegance Bratton: I’m a music buff. I have, at times, DJ’d. I played the saxophone growing up as a kid for 10 years. I’ve sung in bands. I’ve been in many bands. I love music. Music is in my soul, and dance music is very much a part of me. James Newberry is my primary collaborator, and he always scores my films. He is one of the best-kept secrets in the business, although he is getting bigger and bigger by the minute. If you look at him, you wouldn’t know he was as bad as he is, but he’s a bad man. He knows what he is doing.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: In addition to the incredible music, what were you trying to accomplish with this film?
Elegance Bratton: Well, as the culture continues to spread, elevate, and evolve, that culture has gone global. But what has not happened is the people who took that culture, who made that culture in the first place—their ability to go global, to be a part, have a more meaningful piece of that $5.6 billion pie that dance music is today. Their ability to do that is compromised. That’s why I made Move Ya Body. I wanted to create a document and honor and pay homage to this generation of young creatives, Black creatives, who are still around today, who are still making great music today. And I’m hopeful that the people who go to the Coachellas of the world, who want to start the new clubs of the world, that they hire these folks and bring them forward, and make sure that the pioneers are taken care of. In my mind, Move Ya Body: The Birth of House is as much about celebrating and learning the history of House, but it’s also about honoring people as the experts of their own experiences. I don’t have musical musicologists in the film. I don’t have social theorists in the film. I have the people who lived it telling their experience of it. And I hope that by doing that, I’m creating a new human connection for them to experience prosperity in the future.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: What’s next for you, Elegance?
Elegance Bratton: I’m in Atlanta, in production of a film called By Any Means. The film stars Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, amongst other incredible actors. It’s about when an FBI agent is partnered with a mafia hitman to solve the Klan murder of a local civil rights hero in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It’s based on the true story of Greg Scarpa. It’s a thriller with really cool action scenes and some incredible performances.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: I look forward to seeing it, and thanks.
See the full interview at www.reggieponder.com
