3460 Corte o quebrada?
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 02:59:08 +0000
From: Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Corte o quebrada?
My opinion about this picture, others may dissent.
It is "una cuarta de final" , this is to say a pose for the end of a tango.
Cortes y quebradas are generic names that refer to many figures and
embellishments.
Observing the "pose" of Pablo Veron one can see that they have stopped
dancing, this could be a 'Corte" and the waist lines are broken so this can
be called a "Quebrada".
Best regards, Sergio
Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 17:07:06 +0000
From: Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Corte o quebrada?
Clint thank you very much for the interesting videos.
IMO cortes and quebradas were generic terms applied to certain movements or
embellishments.
Tango originated in bad neighborhoods in the periphery of the city and in
brothels of all sorts, some very poor, some very elaborated.
Lyrics of that period are very illustrative as they refer to sex and
prostitution, Cervilla Jr. published, and I translated, some of them a few
years ago. They are very graphic and lewd.
All this at a time when it was not very well seen to have body contact while
dancing.
So the initial cortes and quebradas were removed from decent dances where
partners kept some distance while moved in erect position. Later on we
called cortes and quebradas "any" type of embellishment.
With respect to the videos (this is only an opinion more) :
#1 - Shows a corte that is included in modern American Tango with the name
of "Medio corte".
It is a lounge.
#2 - It is a musical, at the end there is a quebrada with a gancho of the
woman.
#3 - An uncle is teaching tango to his niece, there is a corte with "va y
ven". This is to say a lounge with an up and down movement. There is, at
the beginning a turn with an ending where the man takes the leg of the woman
between his legs and does a movement from side to side.
#4 - Copes does a "sentada".
#5 - The place is announced to be a brothel. The dancers execute several
cortes and sentadas.
#6 - Just a regular milonga dated 40s, 50s.
#7 - A milonga where you can see Portalea ( a famous tango dancer of my
neighborhood) at the end, dancing with somebody that looks like Maria
Nieves.
#8 - An organito. They where common in my childhood. They came around
playing all sort of music, including tangos. They had a parrot or a little
monkey that opened a drawer and selected a card where you could read your
future. :)).
#9 - A milonga exhibition with a bouncy movement that is considered to be an
undesirable movement . Most dancers nowadays will maintain the upper body
at the same high throughout the dance.
As to suits and dresses, you have to remember that Argentina followed a very
conservative European fashion in those years. (people received trends from
Italy, France or England).
It seems that the very sportive American fashion imposed itself, here and
all over the world more recently.
Best regards, Sergio.
Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 16:27:53 -0400
From: Clint Rauscher <clint@AXIALPARTNERS.COM>
Subject: Re: Corte o quebrada?
Hi Sergio,
Thanks for your feedback.. it was very helpful. I love tango and I love
history, so I love finding old footage and hearing about the early days of
tango.
I am beginning to learn spanish, since so many of the books and magazine
articles are not translated. Even if they are translated, you can't always
trust someone elses translation.
All the best,
Clint
clint@axialpartners.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of Any Aspect of the Argentine Tango
> [mailto:TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Sergio Vandekier
> Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 1:07 PM
> To: TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: [TANGO-L] Corte o quebrada?
>
>
> Clint thank you very much for the interesting videos.
>
> IMO cortes and quebradas were generic terms applied to
> certain movements or
> embellishments.
>
> Tango originated in bad neighborhoods in the periphery of the
> city and in
> brothels of all sorts, some very poor, some very elaborated.
>
> Lyrics of that period are very illustrative as they refer
> to sex and
> prostitution, Cervilla Jr. published, and I translated, some
> of them a few
> years ago. They are very graphic and lewd.
>
> All this at a time when it was not very well seen to have
> body contact while
> dancing.
>
> So the initial cortes and quebradas were removed from decent
> dances where
> partners kept some distance while moved in erect position.
> Later on we
> called cortes and quebradas "any" type of embellishment.
>
> With respect to the videos (this is only an opinion more) :
>
> #1 - Shows a corte that is included in modern American Tango
> with the name
> of "Medio corte".
> It is a lounge.
>
> #2 - It is a musical, at the end there is a quebrada with a
> gancho of the
> woman.
>
> #3 - An uncle is teaching tango to his niece, there is a
> corte with "va y
> ven". This is to say a lounge with an up and down movement.
> There is, at
> the beginning a turn with an ending where the man takes the
> leg of the woman
> between his legs and does a movement from side to side.
>
> #4 - Copes does a "sentada".
>
> #5 - The place is announced to be a brothel. The dancers
> execute several
> cortes and sentadas.
>
> #6 - Just a regular milonga dated 40s, 50s.
>
> #7 - A milonga where you can see Portalea ( a famous tango
> dancer of my
> neighborhood) at the end, dancing with somebody that looks like Maria
> Nieves.
>
> #8 - An organito. They where common in my childhood. They came around
> playing all sort of music, including tangos. They had a
> parrot or a little
> monkey that opened a drawer and selected a card where you
> could read your
> future. :)).
>
> #9 - A milonga exhibition with a bouncy movement that is
> considered to be an
> undesirable movement . Most dancers nowadays will maintain
> the upper body
> at the same high throughout the dance.
>
> As to suits and dresses, you have to remember that Argentina
> followed a very
> conservative European fashion in those years. (people
> received trends from
> Italy, France or England).
>
> It seems that the very sportive American fashion imposed
> itself, here and
> all over the world more recently.
>
> Best regards, Sergio.
>
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> from McAfee.
>
