Would you like to arrange to have private lessons for you, your group of friends or organization? Private one-on-one lessons are available on the weekends. Contact Kent for more information about how to incorporate Tango as a team-building exercise for your group or organization, or even at your next party!
Jemila Ericson at WHQR interviews Kent.
The last time I shot local tango instructor Kent Boseman, we took to the beach to capture some quintessential poses against a stunning backdrop (I distinctly recall standing on a boardwalk handrail while my assistant held my legs to keep me from falling face first into the dunes…). This time around, I met Kent and his new partner Jessie Poteat at Wilmington’s Cameron Art Museum where they were to perform three numbers as part of a fund-raising event. There would be no static posing, just two dancers in motion and me with my camera attempting to capture images that speak for the drama, passion and longing of the Argentine tango.
This was my first attempt at shooting dance in motion, and what a challenge it was! Part of the problem was being too enraptured with the dance to properly photograph it. So for the first two practices during warm-up, I made myself merely observe and take note of the lines created and of the moments that moved me. Even with those in mind, it was a matter of anticipating and staying ahead of the dancers, and admittedly, there was plenty I missed or wasn’t able to catch at the proper angle. The good news is, if you keep at it, eventually you’ll catch something brilliant.
The other problem I ran into was the lighting situation. I’d brought my flash and flash bracket, but I found when testing that it created a horrible glare in the large windows surrounding the dance floor, and it didn’t bounce well off the ceiling, either. It was, however, quite bright in the space, so I took a chance and grabbed my fixed length lens. While it allowed me to forgo the flash, it meant no zooming in or out, so if I wanted a shot, I’d have to move. A lot.
When I got the images into Lightroom (my editing software of choice), I decided to give them an added simplicity by going black and white. Due to the low light I’d decided to work with, there was a little noise to remove, but this allowed the forms to be the focus, rather than the features of the dancers in particular. Next, I turned up the drama a bit by pumping up the contrast and highlighting the tension in the dancers’ limbs, et voila! I’d managed a good number of final images that achieved the look and emotion I was hoping for.
So, quite the learning experience. And, inadvertently convincing your boyfriend you should take tango lessons together? Priceless.
Jessie after demo:)
Kent thank-you so much for sharing Noel’s story to the press. So many people have responded on how her story has blessed them in their times of hopelessness during this Christmas Season. You are Awesome & we Looooove you! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas & that you are doing some Tango in this snow. xoxo
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=13738998
A clip[1. YouTube Clip.] from the marriage of Princess Máxima of the Netherlands featuring the music of Astor Piazolla, written when his father died. This clip was sent to me by Heike McDoniel, whose grandfather (German) played the bandeneon for his family and now Heike’s father has tragically died ;(
Embedding has been disabled by the poster, so you’ll have to go to YouTube to watch. Enjoy!
Another clip[1. YouTube Clip.] from the 1997 film “The Tango Lesson” featuring my friend Fabián Salas and the music of Yo-Yo Ma.
As many reviewers have noted, there isn’t a lot of talking in this movie, and indeed, this makes for a slow first half hour, but as the movie unfolds you realize that silence is the genius of the film. It’s appropriate that writer/director/star Sally Potter has chosen tango for her subject, for, as we see in the film, tango at its best is about two dancers communing with each other, silently and sharply.[2. IMDb Review.]
By K.J. Williams
Star-News Correspondent
There are at least two ways to tango, according to a local dance instructor who teaches the less common style known as Argentine Tango, which offers a softer approach to the Latin American dance.
“Everything is gentle – the lead is strong and gentle,” said Kent Boseman, a self-employed stockbroker with nearly four years of dance instruction experience, including a stint at the Boiling Spring Lakes Community Center.
There are several types of Tango, but the ballroom Tango style familiar to many people involves flowers, castanets and movements in which the dancers’ joints are more locked and head turns more abrupt and rigid. In Argentine Tango (that’s continually evolving in Argentina where it originated), movements are looser and the “embrace” of the partner’s arms can be open or closed with the dancers’ chests closer together than the hips. Improvisation is central to the dance, Boseman said.
“It’s more important that you’re connected with your partner than you absolutely hit the right steps,” he said. “You have to live in the moment – the second – and you have to be able to pause and wait.”
With Tango, pauses and stylized poses are part of the dance.
“It is very close sometimes, and it is very elaborately sexy sometimes, but sometimes it’s quiet pauses,” he said.
The emphasis on improvisation is what interests Boseman, who enjoys “the ability to be creative.”
Ballroom dancing including the Tango is experiencing a resurgence, in part because of the popularity of the ABC show, Dancing With The Stars, he said, adding that anytime the public is more exposed to dance in movies or elsewhere, people’s interest in dance is sparked.
In Argentina, there’s a national holiday dedicated to Tango dancing, he said, and in Latin American countries, in general, it’s more acceptable for men to enjoy dancing.
“If you want to meet a lot of very pretty young women, it’s either Tango or Salsa” that they’re dancing locally, he added.
“They love it,” Boseman said. “It’s elegant; it’s pretty; it’s fun – it’s sexy. I mean you can literally get lost in the feeling or the passion of the music.”
Boseman’s passion for dance started with smaller steps, learning to Waltz at a now-defunct dance studio in Wilmington. He found dance to be therapeutic and continued with lessons.
“It is a way to release tension because if you listen to the music you might as well forget about everything else or you’re not going to be able to do the steps,” Boseman said.
A father of four, with two boys and two girls ranging in age from 13 to 26, Boseman has taught two of his children to dance. His other hobbies include surfing, yoga and martial arts. His sister is NC State Senator Julia Boseman, and his brother Dave owns Boseman’s Sporting Goods.
Boseman has taken an Argentine tango class in New York City and has studied in Raleigh. Locally, he said, there isn’t an established place where Argentine Tango is danced, although there are places that host ballroom dancing events and some of the patterns of Argentine Tango may be incorporated into the more mainstream Ballroom Tango.
As an instructor, Boseman’s repertoire includes the Waltz and the Fox Trot. A lifelong Wilmington resident, he’s taught at several locations besides Boiling Spring Lakes, including health clubs, ballroom facilities and nightclubs in Wilmington, as well as for a City of Wilmington parks and recreation program at Halyburton Park. He’s also performed demonstrations of the Argentine Tango with two separate partners at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington as part of programs that included a dance movie and instruction. Boseman said when the connection between himself and his partner is strong, the dance becomes stunning, prompting the audience to respond with enthusiasm.
For Boseman, dance is an all-encompassing hobby.
“It’s seeing it, hearing it, watching it because all of your senses are very heightened,” he said.
He takes a relaxed approach to teaching, encouraging his students and keeping the atmosphere positive so novices aren’t discouraged.
“The point is to have fun,” Boseman said.
Published: Wednesday, June 6, 2007 in the Wilmington Star-News
Think NASCAR with an empty infield. Don’t stop in the lanes. Don’t walk across the lanes. If you bump someone keep going (and maybe say “sorry”). If you need to make a pit stop for wine or beer or the bathroom, get off the oval in the corners. Come back in on the corners. Don’t back up into the lanes; back up in the infield – and if you are going to stop and do patterns use the infield. Keep moving!
This is the theme song of the Civil War Series by Ken Burns on PBS. A lovely, melancholy Waltz that I’ve used in Waltz classes including one at Halyburton for the City of Wilimington. This is my son Brandon’s favorite waltz. Ken Burns is on PBS now…….