Family-friendly Calderón Dance Festival in Plaza district honors beloved teacher's legacy

When Shannon Calderón Primeau was on her deathbed, fellow Oklahoma City dancer, teacher and choreographer Hui Cha Poos paid a visit to her "kindred spirit."  

"We had a mutual respect for each other, and of course, when she got sick, it hurt us all because we are such a small, tight-knit dance community. ... But I have no idea what led me to go, 'Hey, what do you feel like you haven't gotten to do?'" Poos recalled.  

"Without a pause, she said, 'Dance festival. And here's what it looks like: representing all (dance) arts, it needs to be free. It needs to be about the community.' And that's exactly what we're doing." 

Seven years after Calderón Primeau's death, the Plaza District is celebrating her legacy with the inaugural Calderón Dance Festival, designed to fulfill her vision for building a community with inclusive, diverse and equitable opportunities in dance. The free, family-friendly event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. May 21 in the Plaza District on the 1700 block of NW 16th Street.  

"To me, what's really important is that we tell the stories of the people who made the Plaza District special from the start. And the more I learn about Shannon, that's Shannon and that's Everything Goes Dance," said Plaza District Executive Director Rachael Leonhart.  

"She impacted so many people, and her legacy is admired in a multigenerational way, including through a lot of people who English is their second language."  

Who was Shannon Calderón Primeau?  

Calderón Primeau was the owner and director of the Plaza District's Everything Goes Dance from 1995 until her death 2015. In her two decades of teaching, she shared her love of dance with thousands of students. 

"The thing about Shannon and why this idea seven years ago was so ahead of her time is that everything she did was ahead of her time," said Poos, a Plaza District board member and the festival's co-chair.  

"She was bringing diversity into dance before it was cool. She was giving kids that didn't look like everybody else opportunities. She was (giving) scholarships to children that couldn't afford to go to dance because Shannon was about 'If you want to dance, there's nothing that should keep you from dancing.'" 

In fall 2014, Calderón Primeau was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive type of uterine cancer. She died May 12, 2015, at the age of 45. Her niece, Erika Vasquez, who is co-chairing the new festival, took over the helm of Everything Goes Dance.  

“Shannon offered so much to so many. Her acts of selflessness are still apparent and living today through the many students who were given the chance to experience dance under any circumstance. I miss her but feel her in my spirit,” Vasquez said in a statement.  

How does the new festival live stack up?  

At her studio, Calderón Primeau passed on her passion for all forms of dance, reflecting her successful professional career as a dancer of many genres, from ballet and tap to jazz and flamenco.  

She was the founder and artistic director of Flamenco Fantastico! program, an official Oklahoma Artist in Residence and an instructor with the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Communities Program. She performed with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Ballet and Canterbury Voices and appeared across the country with renowned OKC classical guitarist Edgar Cruz, who will perform with dancers on the new festival's main stage.  

"She was about all the dance forms and honoring all of them equally rather than weighting the European, Eurocentric dance forms. All the things that she stood for, for so many years before it aligned with the rest of society and what we talk about now, she was doing them," said Poos, founder of OKC's RACE Dance Collective.  

"What we're trying to do with this festival is honor what she started by continuing to do that."  

What can people expect from the Calderón Dance Festival?  

True to Calderón Primeau's spirit, the all-day Calderón Dance Festival will feature opportunities to both see and learn many forms of dance, including tap, hip hop, flamenco, ballet, modern, musical theater, jazz, freestyle, folklorico, breaking, Afro beats, salsa, Highland and belly dancing.  

Throughout the day, dance classes will be taught in five areas spread throughout the district, with levels ranging from beginner and open, for anyone who has wanted to learn but never had the chance, to advanced for pre-professional or professional dancers.  

From 1 to 4 p.m., a curated showcase will spotlight locally produced dance films, and a 1 p.m. panel discussion for educators will focus on creating a more inclusive learning environment.  

In the evening, the festival will include dance showcases, a street dance battle and a master class from the event's headliner, Vincent Paterson, who has worked with superstars like Madonna and Michael Jackson as well as on the films "Evita," "The Birdcage" and "Hook." Paterson choreographed and directed Madonna’s "Blond Ambition Tour" and Jackson’s "Bad" trek as well as many of their music videos, and he will teach a section of his original choreography from Jackson's “Smooth Criminal” video during the festival. 

Local professional dancers who will be featured in the festival will include RACE Dance Collective, Perpetual Motion Dance and Isidro Salas.  

The event will culminate in a dance party from 8 to 10 p.m. featuring OKC's DJ Nymasis. 

Event to pay teachers and performers

The festival will feature classes taught by more than 30 teachers and performances by 20 artists, who will all be paid. 

"Nobody else is doing a dance festival like this. Nobody else has, from what I've been able to find, dedicated 50% of their budget to teachers and performing artists. I think that's really important," Leonhart said. 

"If we're going to call ourselves and designate ourselves as an arts and culture district, one of the things that's important to me is pouring back into the people who make it so special." 

Leonhart attended this month's Dancing in the Gardens event at the Myriad Botanical Gardens and was excited to see hundreds of people learning to salsa with instructor Marti Rickman, who will be teaching at the festival, too.  

"This is what I'm dedicated to, is going out and seeing what people are enjoying across our city and paying attention to what people want, not what we've done. So, it's important to keep a really close eye and ear as to what's relevant and what people are very hungry for," Leonhart said. 

"And we're checking in with her family a lot, saying, 'Hey, how do you feel about this? Is this what Shannon would have wanted?' It is so rare that you get to work with someone's family like this ... and I think this event is going to be really special." 

CALDERON DANCE FESTIVAL 

When: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. May 21. 

Where: Plaza District, 1700 block of NW 16th Street. 

Admission: Free. 

Information: https://www.plazadistrict.org.