By Maggie Cassidy

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 Pe