Just dance

Creative Dance Continuum celebrates its 25th-anniversary — and final — gala performance Saturday at the Garde Arts Center with a grand event bringing together performers from around the region.

The show is called “Everybody will be Dancing,” and it certainly seems that’s the case, since it will feature not just 30 CDC students but also more than 100 dancers from various groups.

This was the brainchild of L’Ana Burton, who founded CDC (originally called The Connecticut College Children’s Dance Center) in 1986.

Students from CDC, who run from ages 5 to 18, will perform dances they have created. Burton will also dance a solo work.

The other groups that will be part of the CDC gala include: The Lion’s Den Dance Company, a group of dancers from New London; Interplay, adults who use improvisation and dance as a form of self-expression; people who do Dance for PD (Parkinson’s Disease); and preschoolers from the Connecticut College Children’s Program.

Generations of people from the community will join together to perform “Breaths,” which debuted after 9/11 to honor the late Juliana Valentine McCourt, who was a CDC dancer. Juliana, 4, and her mother, Ruth, were passen- gers on United Flight 175, which flew into the World Trade Center’s South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001.

Creative Dance Continuum’s

Gala Concert, 7 p.m. Saturday, Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London; $15 ($10 kids); (860) 444-7373.

TIM COOK/THE DAY Members of the Creative Dance Continuum rehearse Tuesday for the group’s 25th annual gala Saturday at the Garde Arts Center. The gala, “Everyone will be Dancing,” will feature dancers of all ages.