The Williams Center for the Arts at Lafayette College will be pulsating with energy this weekend when its opens its season with two concerts celebrating Latino culture — Ballet Hispanico on Friday and Tiempo Libre Cuban jazz group on Saturday.

Ballet Hispanico's program includes includes Cayetano Soto's new National Dance Project creation, "Sortijas (Rings)," a duet celebrating family, friends and community; director Eduardo Valera's "Danzon," set to music by Paquito D'Rivera; the world premiere of "Sombrerisimo" by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and "Jardi Tancat," set to Maria del Mar Bonet's Catalonian folk tales by Spain's most famous choreographer, Nacho Duarte.

At 7:30 p.m. Sept. 5, the company will hold a Latin social dance workshop at NCCC, Fowler Family Center, 511 E. Third St., Bethlehem. There is no cost and reservations are not needed. For more information contact Virginia Gonzalez, director of the Hispanic Caucus at Northampton Community College at vgonzalez@northampton.edu.

Three-time Grammy nominated Tiempo Libre returns to the Lehigh Valley with its sophisticated performances of timba, a joyous mix of high-voltage Latin jazz and the seductive rhythms of son, with a particular fondness for the core American voices which reached Cuban homes by radio — Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Gloria Estefan, and Earth, Wind & Fire.