Fans of Shark Week take note — the experts are coming to Calgary.
Marine biologist and shark expert Jess Cramp brings her ocean adventures to Jack Singer Concert Hall as part of the Werklund Centre’s National Geographic Live series.
Speaking with 660 NewsRadio’s Behind the Curtain, Cramp says the experience will be anything but a dry lecture.
“National Geographic and I have worked really hard to make it very entertainment-forward, while we trick you into learning about sharks and fisheries,” she says.
Audiences can expect stories, behind-the-scenes videos and the kind of visuals only National Geographic can deliver.
Cramp spends much of her year in the South Pacific tagging sharks and tracking their movements. “The tags actually stay on the animal collecting data for up to a year, and then they pop off,” she explains.
Those tags send their data to a satellite, then she and her team recreate the shark’s journey. But she says tagging the sharks is the ultimate catch-and-release rush.
“You have a very wiggly shark, you turn it upside down, it goes into a state called tonic immobility,” she says. “And then we flip it back over so that it’s dorsal fin side up, we pop the tag in, we measure the shark, we remove the hook, and then we release it, and it swims off.”
A promotional image of a shark for the National Geographic Live show “Jess Cramp: The Untold Story of Sharks.” It is premiering in Calgary from March 8-9, 2026. (Courtesy Werklund Centre)
Sharks also have quirks that most people never imagine.
“There was a silky shark that was swimming around,” she says. “Surrounding the silky shark was a school of fish. These fish kept bouncing off of the silky shark to try to use its skin, which is very sandpaper-like, to use its skin to scrape off parasites.
“You could see that this shark was so annoyed. I just thought this is the cutest thing I’ve seen from a shark.”
The show also digs into the history of shark research, including the legacy of Dr. Eugenie Clark — an inspiration to Cramp.
“She was given the nickname the ‘Shark Lady,’ and in my mind, there will never be another,” she says. “She was an incredibly competent, talented scientist, but she was also incredible at science communication.”
Jess Cramp: The Untold Story of Sharks runs March 8 and 9 at the Jack Singer Concert Hall at the Werklund Centre.
You can find more information, including how to snag tickets, on the Werklund Centre website.
A promotional image for the National Geographic Live show “Jess Cramp: The Untold Story of Sharks.” It is premiering in Calgary from March 8-9, 2026. (Courtesy Werklund Centre)