[Tango-L] Corte, what is it? %)

[astrid]

"Corte" means "Cut" in Spanish. It signifies that you "cut" the movement. I
am still not quite clear about it is exactly either, but in Argentine tango
history, there was a phase when they had a style called "tango de hermanas"
(tango for the sisters... of the milongueros, that is) "sin cortes y
quebradas" (without cortes and quebradas) which means, a simple, toned down
version of tango, which is morally acceptable enough for a macho to allow
his sisters to dance it.
>From I have understood so far, I imagine that cortes are the ways the man
stops the woman in her movement, quebrada apparently means, he then bends
over her or tilts her into his arms and rocks her a little.
Remember that in those days, the tango was the only way a man could play a
little with a woman's body without having to marry her. Unless she was a
prostitute. Or so the legend goes.

Astrid