Move Ya Body: The Birth of House (2025)

Together with the Amsterdam music platform Steppin' into Tomorrow, we will be watching the story of early house producer Vince Lawrence. In the chaos of the Disco Demolition Night riot in a baseball stadium in Chicago in 1979, a young Lawrence, who was working there as an usher, witnessed the fiery backlash against disco — a sound that defined freedom and pride. Undeterred by the hostility, Vince used his earnings to buy a synthesizer, setting in motion a journey that would change music forever. 

Venturing into the underground sanctuary of The Warehouse, where Frankie Knuckles spun revolutionary sounds, Vince teamed up with Jesse Saunders to form Z Factor, a scrappy collective of visionaries who captured the pulse of Chicago’s underground on wax. Their track, On and On, became the first recorded house music anthem, sparking a movement that transformed a local DIY culture into a global phenomenon. 

From those gritty Chicago streets to festival stages worldwide, Vince’s story is an electrifying testament to how a dream, born in the ashes of rejection, ignited a genre that continues to unite and liberate people across the globe.

Melkweg often hosts different types of programmes at the same time, such as concerts, club nights and films. Please note that there may occasionally be some noise pollution from other programmes during the screening.