Whidbey Island Dance Theatre has been invited to perform in Montreal, Canada at the first International Festival of Regional Dance America.

Approximately 100 dance companies from the U.S. and Canada will participate in the five day festival May 1 to 5.  The company will perform Eva Stone’s “The Gift That Came Here,” a new work commissioned by the company and set to two of Johann Sebastian Bach’s preludes, played on ukulele.

Stone is the curator and producer of “Chop Shop:  Bodies of Work,” a contemporary dance festival held annually in Bellevue.  This highly anticipated event brings the best of local, regional and international contemporary dance companies together for a unique series of performances, lectures and master classes and, this year, was awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The performance of “The Gift”  in Montreal will also be the first international one for choreographer Stone.

Eight dancers will travel to Montreal to perform the work including Amy Arand, Caitlin Christensen, Brittany Falso, Kiana Henny, Madyson Hunter, Elliauna Madsen, Chelsea Matthews-Jensen and Melissa Smith.

Though WIDT has twice been invited to dance in Europe at the Tanzommer Dance Festival in Austria and Germany, they have not previously been able to afford the cost to attend.

Island audiences can see “The Gift that Came Here,”  along with “Cinderella” and other works Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22 at the South Whidbey High School auditorium in the annual Dance & Choreography Showcase.

The company will also perform at the “All 4 1 Dancepalooza” festival in Seattle April 27 and 28.