Film & Videos
This full-length documentary explores Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor, the large-scale exhibition I curated at the Museum of the City of New York examining over 300 years of social dance, music, movement, and community.
Moving across Ballroom, Ragtime, Lindy Hop and Jazz dances, Salsa and Latin social dance cultures, Hip Hop and House, Vogue, Bhangra, Dabka, Hustle, and Tradition Remixed, the documentary follows how communities created connection, identity, celebration, resistance, and collective life through movement and music across generations.
The exhibition brought together over 300 objects, photographs, instruments, visual artworks, archival materials, interactive dance tutorials, film installations, participatory environments, and the central “All Dancing Allowed” interactive dance floor alongside live performances and public programming.
The documentary moves through the exhibition’s different sections, artists, archives, movement traditions, and curatorial framework while also documenting the public life of the project through performances, workshops, dance floors, and community participation.
Apollo Theater series, Live Wire: From the Archive. For almost two years, Mr. Washington researched ephemera, archival film, and objects that he presented in the professionally recorded film. As the host and curator, he explored how the historic theater, the Apollo’s archive, artists’ bodies, and the neighborhood of Harlem are interconnected archives (Curator, Host, Researcher & Project Manager) (Link).
Exhibition and program teaser video for Rhythm & Power: Salsa in New York. Through nearly 100 objects—from Tito Puente’s instruments and Celia Cruz’s stagewear to records, posters, photographs, and dance costumes—the exhibition brought to life how salsa’s music, movement, style, and business developed across the Caribbean, Latin America, the United States, and beyond, with New York as a major crossroads (Interviewee, Curator & Co-Director).
Documentary short film sharing the importance of the arts and community in New York City. Created with the initial support from the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Abyssinian Baptist Church, Center for Traditional Music and Dance, Bronx Music Heritage Center, and National Jazz Museum in Harlem (Director, Interviewer, Storyboard Writer, and Producer).
Title: Dreams & Defiance: Centering Cultural Expressions of People of African Descent - United Nations
Film trailer for a film celebrating the United Nations International Day of People of African Descent. The film was featured prominently on United Nations and United Nations agencies’ media platforms (Host, Producer, Researcher, Project Manager, Script Writer & Curator).
Title: A Call for a New Social Contract: Centering Indigenous Cultural Expressions - United Nations
Trailer for a film celebrating the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, created in collaboration between UN Human Rights and UN Visitor Services. The film was featured prominently on United Nations and United Nations agencies’ media platforms (Co-Host, Researcher, Producer, Project Manager & Co-Script Writer).
Curatorial & Project Long Reel: Projects Created, Exhibitions Curated, or Films Produced by Dr. Derrick León Washington
Dance & Movement Anthropology
I Still Believe in Our City, featuring Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya with commentary from Carmelyn P. Malalis and Derrick L. Washington, Ph.D. Produced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in partnership with the NYC Commission on Human Rights (Expert Intervention & Co-Script Writer).
Angy Rivera is a human rights activist fighting for immigration reform in the United States. Rivera emigrated from Colombia to the United States with her mother at the age of four. Excluded from state and federal college financial aid due to her immigration status, she became active with the undocumented-youth-led New York State Youth Leadership Council (NYSYLC) (Interviewer & Co-Producer).
Nueva York - A Musical History of Latin New York (documentary film trailer)
A history of Latino New York told through its music. When West Side Story hit the screens in 1961, it gave visibility to New York’s ostracized and deprived Puerto Rican community. From Spanish Harlem to the Bronx, where poverty, drugs, and gangs were rife, Latino music and dance were creating a new Latin identity in North America with the Big Apple as its capital. Director: Sergio G. Mondelo / Year: 2021 (Inspired in part by an exhibition curated by Derrick León Washington; Expert Speaker and Consultant).
Watch the full film (here)
Dancing Classrooms at the Urban Stomp: From Swing to Mambo "Bienvenidos a Nueva York" at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, New York City (Director & Producer).
Film trailer for ‘Dreams & Defiance: Latin Dance Vs. The World.’ Instructional film about Latin dances and cultures, created in collaboration with the National Jazz Museum (Curator, Director, Project Manager, Script Writer & Researcher).
Tony Hillery is the founder and director of Harlem Grown, an organization that connects local public schools to the greater community through the use of common garden spaces and mutually engaging activities. Harlem Grown provides 3,000 children in 12 schools with hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition (Interviewer & Co-Producer).
Bizet Has His Day (Inside)
Musicians and dancers find a way to connect virtually and feel a little less isolated in times of social distancing. Performed by The Revisionists and recorded in home studios across the country by band members in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic (Dancer).
Morning stretch routine…
New York International Salsa Congress
Video Link: Teaser for a Day of Dreams, Defiance and Dance with the New York International Salsa Congress
Video Link: Panel of “What’s the Right Way to Dance Salsa?”
Facebook Program Link: Day of Dreams, Defiance, and Dance with the New York International Salsa Congress and NYU
Video Link: Keynote Panel moderated by Derrick L. Washington