Fresno State dance students will be participating in the dance show of the year this weekend, Nov. 5.

The Central Valley Dance Festival will be happening this weekend. This is the sixth year for the festival and many dance groups from around Fresno will be participating, including Fresno State’s very own contemporary dance ensemble.

CDE is a course offered at Fresno State for dance majors and minors. The dancers enrolled in the course are required to obtain a course number in order to be part of the class.

Associate professor Kenneth Balint, whose title for the course is artistic director, said the dance festival is in lines with what the class is about.

“The beauty of this class is that it’s a performance class,” Balint said. “The idea of the class is to train and rehearse and perform.”

Balint said the festival is a community festival.

“It’s not meant for a few people. It’s meant for everybody,” Balint said.

Balint said anyone who has interest in dance should attend. “It’s not like it’s going to be a ballet concert, or a modern concert or a jazz concert,” Balint said. “It’s really a little bit of everything.”

Katherine Dorn, a dance major at Fresno State, has been dancing since the age of 3. Dorn will be participating in the dance festival with CDE. She took part in the festival last year as well. Dorn said she enjoyed it last year.

“There was a lot of variety in the types of dance,” Dorn said.

Leesha Melson is also a dance major at Fresno State. She has participated in the festival as well and said it is a lot of fun.

“I love performing so it’s always good to have an opportunity to perform,” Melson said.

Melson recommends Fresno State take the opportunity to go to the festival.

“It’s a great opportunity to just see all the dancers from the Valley,” Melson said.

The piece CDE will be performing at the festival is a five-minute excerpt of a 16-minute piece.

The Central Valley Dance Festival will take place on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. It will be located at the Fresno Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium. The event will cost $25 at the door.