To move a figure, make sure the Body is selected, not one of the Body Parts.  Then move your figure around the scene with the xTran, yTran, and zTran dials.  You shouldn't get any distortion of the pose that way.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean about body parts flopping all around.  Only thing I can think is that maybe you were trying to move the figure with a body part selected and Inverse Kinematics was on.  To turn IK off, go to Figure > Use Inverse Kinematics.

Hope that helps.  If not, post a screenshot so we can see exactly what is happening.

"You don't know what we can see
Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free." - Steppenwolf