Members of the Get Bent Active Arts Society (GBAAS) have spent the last 10 years contributing to the growth and development of dance, in particular to the belly dance industry as a whole.

GBAAS is a B.C.-based not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to fundraise for values-based arts and cultural activities for children and youth. From their Penticton office, GBAAS has produced a fundraising dance tour that is now in its sixth year.

The seven Get Bent touring dancers and four crew will be entertaining crowds each night with awe-inspiring belly dance chorography, they are also offering free workshops to promote self-esteem and anti-bullying. Written and presented by teens for pre-teens, these free workshops are available to elementary and middle schools at every tour stop.

The 2012 GBAAS show is entitled ‘The Breaking Barriers Tour.’ Wendy Williams, artistic director explains, “The focus of this season is to demonstrate that belly dance is a diverse vocabulary of movement and can be used in ways that people do not expect and may have never seen before. We’ve tried to take everything out of the dance style and have nothing left but the athleticism and technical merit of the dance, making it accessible to be used within a wide variety of dance forms.”

This year’s tour premieres in Cranbrook on Thursday, April 19 at The Key City Theatre. There are five stops on this year’s tour including Nelson, Kelowna, Penticton, and Kamloops.

GBAAS love to support the local dance community in each city, and they are excited to partner in Cranbrook with Anadil Dance Troupe. Wendy Lewis of Anadil states, “Anadil Dance Troupe is always excited with the opportunity to partner up with the Get Bent Dancers.  We love to be able to support such a great fundraising event and as this is our third consecutive year doing this, the event just keeps getting better and better!”

By Lisa Kilgour

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