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Elegance Bratton’s documentary “Move Ya Body,” which tracks both the artistic evolution of house music and its historical and sociopolitical impact, emerged from the unlikeliest of sources: Hillary Clinton.
Bratton and “Move Ya Body” producers Roger Ross Williams and Chester Algernal Gordon visited the IndieWire Studio at Sundance, presented by Dropbox, to discuss the origins of the film. Williams was approached by the former Secretary of State, a Chicago native with a deep passion for the city’s distinct brand of joyfully repetitive dance music. He then brought Bratton, who was eager for a fun “palette cleanser” after directing “The Inspection,” on board.
“The project was brought to me by Roger, and he was like ‘I’ve got this project with Hillary Clinton, because she loves house music,” Bratton said. “I didn’t know she was a house head!”
Williams was excited by the enthusiasm he felt from Clinton, who serves as an executive producer on the film alongside her daughter Chelsea through their production company HiddenLight. But he also came to the project with his own lifelong passion for house music.
“Hillary is from Chicago. So when I met Hillary, I said ‘No one is gonna believe that you’re a house music lover. This is great!'” Williams said. “I found myself on the dance floor in house music. It takes you to another place. There’s a freedom with being on the dance floor in house music.”
Bratton’s connection with house music was deeply personal as well, as he explained that its presence in the New York nightlife scene emboldened him to unapologetically be himself without concern for stereotypes about masculinity.
“To me, house music is the soundtrack of me growing up. As a kid with a name Elegance, everyone assumed I was gay,” he said. “Everyone was putting pressure on me to be a ‘real man.’ And then I snuck into The Limelight, this incredible nightclub in New York City, and for the first time those things that I was ridiculed for or punished for became superpowers. And the soundtrack of that liberation was house music. So yes this film is about house music, but it’s also about how queer people, femme people, and women can teach us all how to be free.”
Dropbox is proud to partner with IndieWire and the Sundance Film Festival. In 2025, 68% of feature films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival used Dropbox in their film production. Dropbox helps filmmakers and creative teams find, organize, and secure all the files that are important to any project.
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