Latin Night offers dancing, understanding

The distinctive rhythm of salsa music mixed with the sound of awkward collisions between students accidentally bumping into each other filled the air at the Curry Student Center Ballroom Friday night.

"The Latin and Cape Verdean Dance Fusion Workshop," co-sponsored by the Latin American Student Organization (LASO) and the Cape Verdean Student Association (CVSA) was the honorary kickoff to a slew of planned events to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

The dance workshop was followed by "Latin Night Part One - Seduction," held in afterHOURS, and was co-sponsored by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Freshman music technology major Colin Penta, who attended the afterHOURS dance, but not the workshop, enjoyed both the social and cultural aspects of the evening.

"It was a good way to get people to interact," he said. "I felt like everyone was included."

Penta, who heard about the planned festivities through word of mouth and advertisements, said he was pleased with the song selections played throughout the night, noting the music was rooted in Latin culture, not the generic pop confections from the radio a la Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez.

"I didn't think the music would be that good," he said. "But it was the real stuff. That was pretty impressive."

Event coordinator Yaritza Betancourt, a middler double major in theatre and psychology, who was in charge of coordinating "Latin Night," echoed Penta's sentiments.

"There was a lot of diversity there, which is something we were aiming for and really liked," Betancourt said. "The music was really good. This was the first time we had DJ Case and DJ Shorty, well-known DJs from Boston."

LASO president Luisa Peña, a senior international affairs and political science major, said "Latin Night" is an annual event that has been hosted by LASO since the organization's inception in 1988.

"Different types of genre of dance are very prominent in [Latin] culture, so we foster understanding of culture through dance and things like that," she said.

Betancourt said this year nearly 40 students attended the dance instruction workshop and another 581 passed through the doors of afterHOURS for the "Seduction" dance, which lasted until 2 a.m.

By collaborating with CVSA, Peña said LASO hoped to expand the impact of the event and promote "intercultural learning."

"We also want to create a social atmosphere," she said. "We do a lot of work, but we want to have a social gathering where we can get together and know each other on another level."

Betancourt and Edwin Figueroa, who was in charge of the dance workshop, each led teams of LASO members in coordinating the night.

Betancourt said it was a "big commitment" as the group met weekly over the summer and spent hours of their own free time to pull it together.

"It was definitely a success," Penta said, noting he plans to attend a second Latin event, "Pachanga Night," with a live performance by Amarfis at afterHOURS Oct. 14.

LASO's next event to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month, "La Ribbean Fusion Food Festival," will feature live entertainment and authentic Latin American and Caribbean cuisine from Peru, Cuba and Jamaica and will take place on Centennial Commons Sept. 21 at 2:50 p.m.