From Worlds Apart
And Into Each Other’s Hearts:
Top Ballroom Dance Couple
Lands Together in Little Neck

By Aaron Rutkoff

The large maroon awning that shades the entrance of the Tri-State Hall in Little Neck bears both English and Korean lettering, but otherwise gives little indication of the world-class dance talent training hard within.

Visitors inclined to step inside are likely to find a sleek young couple gliding lightly across the vast hardwood floor, moving apart and back together again in tight spins and dazzling twirls—in some ways symbolic of the twists of circumstance and chance that brought them together in the first place.

“We met at dancing school,” explained the woman. “Our coach introduced us,” added her male partner. 

But this duo had to cross oceans to find each other nearly half-a-world away. 

Sehyoung Jang is a 28-year-old native of Seoul, South Korea, and his 22-year-old dance partner Ewelina Basak is originally from Poland.  As a team they have achieved huge success in the competitive dance world; more remarkable, perhaps, this award-winning tandem of international origin trains in Little Neck.

At the Manhattan dance school where they met, as well as the several other studios where Basak and Jang developed early on, the two dancers learned to waltz, foxtrot, tango and quickstep—forms they have now mastered together.

Dancers Sehyoung Jang and Ewelina Basak make a great team both on and off the dance floor. They’ve won several amateur dance competitions and are engaged to be married.

Different competitions call for different steps, and the pair claims to have no particular favorite.

“Like right now we like cha-cha the best, we practice it the most.  But it all changes all the time,” Basak said.  “We love dancing in general.”

Basak and Jang practice at the Tri-State Hall at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and 254th Street because the hall’s owner, Sue Kim of Manhasset, helps support and sponsor their competitive efforts, which take the two dancers all over the world. 

When the Tribune spoke to Jang and Basak, they were nearing the end of a competitive hiatus that followed their first place showing at the Korean International Championships and third place honors in the Latin Dance and Standard Dance divisions of the U.S. National competition.

These achievements place Basak and Jang at the very top of the ranks of amateur competitive ballroom dancers, both in New York and the world. “We are at the highest level there is just before turning professional,” explained Basak. The couple has definite plans to turn professional soon, but only after racking up a few more titles at the amateur level.

Sehyoung Jang started dancing at age 11 in Seoul and eventually entered a university program that included dance education. “I graduated with a Recreational major from college. I did like singing and dancing,” Jang said.  In the course of his studies Jang was introduced to ballroom dance, and his pursuit of ballroom dance brought him to the U.S. “I came from Korea for the first time with my college professor. There is better dance education in America,” he said.  Jang moved here permanently in 1997.

Jang added, “I just did it for dance, I did it for dance and nothing else.”

Ewelina Basak came to New York almost 10 years ago— when she was 13-years-old —and first lived in Rockaway. 

Her journey from Poland was motivated not by dance, but by her family. “I moved because of my mom, and I wasn’t sure that I would be dancing when I moved here,” she said.  “Once I moved here, I went to dancing schools and started dancing again and that was just it,” Basak explained.  Basak started dancing in Poland at age eight.

The immigrant experience was a challenge for Basak, but her love of dance helped her overcome the hardship. She said, “It was difficult at the beginning, I wanted to move back to Poland, but after three or four years I was pretty fine.  I’m glad I live here now and I want to represent the U.S. in the World Championships and stuff like that.”

When asked about the greatest advantage to their lives in America, Basak answered quickly, “Meeting each other.”  Jang smiled his agreement.

Basak and Jang have found great support from the community in Queens and Nassau County.  Basak explained, “We are being sponsored by our families, we have sponsors that give us our dresses and shoes and stuff like that.” Their patrons include Sue Kim, the owner of Tri-State Hall. “The lady who is sponsoring us, she opened this studio. She wanted to have a dancing school. So she is a teacher now. We kind of help her out with publicity,” Basak said.

Word that two world-class ballroom dancers practice nearby spread through the community, said Jang, and the attention has lead to increased interest in ballroom dance. Jang explained, “I didn’t advertise a lot about this hall because it is brand new, but everybody knew about this hall and came to dance.”

Though they primarily train for competitions, the dancers also teach classes at Tri-State, which helps satisfy Jang’s desire to use his educational training. “The first time I came I wanted to learn dance and go back to Korea and teach dance. But I decided to stay, to work with the Korean community in the United States,” Jang said.

Now Jang finds that dance helps bring together the many communities living in Queens.  “We dance together, the Korean Community and the American Community, in this hall,” he said.

  In watching the couple move on the dance floor, it is easy to see that they have a deep connection that comes from years of intimate collaboration. Basak and Jang have been dancing together for two and a half years. “Communication works really great, we know what each other wants.  It’s a very mature relationship.  We are both happy,” Basak said of their strong rapport.

But it was only after further inquiry by the Tribune that Jang revealed that they are more than just dance partners. “We got engaged last year,” Jang said.

After a year of dancing together, the dancers became romantically involved and decided to get married after a year of dating. Basak explained, “[The transition] wasn’t difficult actually, because we spend so much time together. We just, like, clicked after a while.”

When asked if their romantic relationship has affected their dance relationship, both dancers just smiled and laughed. “It is also a difficult part,” Jang admitted happily.

The future holds big things for Basak and Jang. Besides their impending wedding, the dancers will participate in the American Star dance competition next month in New Jersey.

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