Move to the rhythm of underground funk at the Calgary Hip-Hop and Street Dance Festival

By Abbas Hussain, December 2 2024— The third annual Calgary Hip Hop & Street Dance Festival took place from Nov. 21 to 24 with a wide variety of events and a roster of amazing guests coming in to participate in the festival. Despite the relatively newer nature of this festival here in Calgary, there are some incredible performances to be expected. The festival’s artistic director, Tara Wilson, shared her excitement over the artists that will be a part of this festival, as well as the events that have been planned. “We have grown it every year that we have done it [and] have support from Calgary arts development, funding from them, to bring in some amazing artists and scholarship to university dance majors,” Wilson said. Wilson explained where the inspiration came from the festival. She said that she had been involved for many years in the hip-hop scene. COVID put everything on hold. After visiting the Vancouver Street Dance Festival, she met up with her mentor and legendary dancer Ken Swift. With his help, they devised this project with young dancers and went from there. Wilson then called one of the directors of the Vancouver Festival, and with his insights,...