By Catrina Bowles
When she couldn’t keep up with the teaching demand, Wilson started bringing the dance pioneers themselves out to Calgary to teach classes. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened and learning from originators became impossible.
“People are really into their phones and learning everything off Youtube, and we’re starting to lose things again,” Wilson says.
At the 2022 Vancouver Streetdance Festival, Wilson reconnected with breaking artist and pioneer Ken Swift, who was one of the judges at the festival. Wilson asked him to come to Calgary, and she would fund several free-to-attend events. Wilson put together free training, a dance battle and a vintage curated clothing market.
“I ended up calling it the Calgary Hip Hop and Street Dance Festival because I just didn’t know what else to call it,” she says. “I was doing all these little events around Ken’s visit that were turning into something better.”
The response was so positive that Wilson put the event on again the following year. By the time planning for the third year came around, she knew she needed to change her plan because funding the event out of her own pocket wasn’t sustainable. A crucial aspect to the festival was keeping it affordable and accessible.
“Hip hop in Calgary is still a culture and a form that is mostly populated by youth and by people from disenfranchised communities,” says Wilson. “This event has to be downtown, and it has to be affordable.”
This led to the founding of the not-for-profit Calgary Streetdance Society to open the door to grant funding. In 2024 and 2025, Calgary Streetdance Society received the Calgary Arts Development Project Grant for Organizations.
The grant allowed Wilson to offer student scholarships for dance programs and free training from professional artists for students. And, she could bring double the number of artists to the festival, including famous international acts, such as waacking sensation Princess Lockerooo. The grant also enabled the society to hire staff to assist in marketing and outreach, rather than rely solely on the volunteer team of only four people the festival had before.
“It’s enabling us to grow and put Calgary on the map as a destination and as a hub for this culture,” says Wilson.
Even more than making Calgary a destination for hip hop and streetdance, Wilson is proud that the festival offers a place for youth to express themselves and feel safe and supported in doing so. That is showcased in a newer component of the festival — the high school dance battle. Teams from high schools across Calgary put together a dance, then Calgary Streetdance Society sends an artist to visit them and workshop the dance before they go head-to-head in the battle.
“One of the things I experienced through the festival is the incredible pride that these youth have over their own work and the agency that they are able to have over their own expression,” says Wilson. “They want to create things. So to be a vehicle for that is really powerful.”