Literally A dance performed on the balls of the feet or en pointe.
In the excitement of trying to get the ball launched he may do a momentary toe dance, then crouch, stand, skip, or run before finally lobbing the ball a total of perhaps seven feet.1962, W. Cleon Skousen, So You Want to Raise a Boy?, page 65:
Even the toe dance, so much despised by Isadora Duncan and by the schools she inspired, is essentially creative, not athletic.1983, Roger Copeland, Marshall Cohen, What is Dance?: Readings in Theory and Criticism, page 40:
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This is a toe dance that alternates between the toe ( more specifically, the ball of the foot ) and the heel.1985, Frets - Volume 7, page 23:
The eclipse of male supremacy in dancing onstage began in the 1830s when Marie Taglioni established a foothold for women, employing the toe dance as an essential element of ballet.1988, Judith Lynne Hanna, Dance, Sex, and Gender, page 125:
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Figuratively The act of avoiding an issue by equivocation, complicated diplomacy, or changing the subject.
One of my concerns, frankly, is that we are just kind of, you know, we hold a hearing and we talk about it a little bit, and then it disappears from the limelight, and we are kind of doing a toe dance around the problems in Liberia rather than really addressing the problems as forcefully as we should.1994, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Subcommittee on African Affairs, U.S. policies toward Liberia, Togo, and Zaire:
Even though the wealth is mine, Gordon manages it, which means I still do the toe dance to convince him that “our money,” as he now calls it, is put to good use.2010, Linda Francis Lee, The Devil in the Junior League: A Novel:
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We arrived at Quonset Naval Air Station, where Kennedy warned us as he got up to leave the plane that he had a “little toe dance to do” with Rhode Island's Republican governor, John Chafee, who was meeting the president at the airport.2014, Benjamin C. Bradlee, Conversations with Kennedy:
It was a common scene for one of the older boys to play the fiddle while the others toe danced.1955, Louis Salisbury Leatham, The Letham or Leatham family book of remembrance:
Twyla Tharp could have toe danced on the counter, and the president wouldn't have noticed.1996, Judy Hogan, The Shade, page 339:
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He was a big guy, weighed about 260 pounds and he toe danced in ballerina shoes!2001, Marshal Royal, Claire P. Gordon, Marshal Royal: Jazz Survivor, page 44:
Historians have different opinions how this custom started, but the most accepted theory is that Prince Li Yu, who ruled a southern China kingdom, had a favorite dancer who toe danced inside a high platform shaped like a lotus flower.2007, Katie Kubesh, Niki McNeil, Kimm Bellotto, The History of Footwear, page 13:
Doctors toe dance around diagnosis of the disease, too.2013, Lori Micken, Eighty Years in Montana, page 205:
toe-dance
verb
1
Literally To dance on en pointe or on the balls of one's feet.
At eight she could perform Chopin, sing Italian classics, paint and toe-dance.1947, Opera news - Volume 12, page 6:
In a few more months, she toe-danced, twirled and reached for the sun.2012, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Grandma's Soul:
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Inventive under stress, Franklin toe-danced and spun around, faking high spirits “as if he were part of the fun instead of its object.”2019, John F. Woolverton, James D. Bratt, A Christian and a Democrat:
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Figuratively To avoid an issue by equivocation, diplomacy, or changing the subject.
For five years, he toe-danced his way through a path of idiotic triple talk, before the FCC finally shouted him down.1966, Don McGuire, The Day Television Died, page 237:
If a newsman had asked me to comment on Spiro T. Agnew, even a few weeks before the 1968 Republican convention, I would have “toe-danced”—which in press secretary terminology means dodging the question.1980, Making it perfectly clear, page 154:
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Some skeptics have toe-danced around the issue for years, but they still have yet to answer that vital question.2007, Jonas E. Alexis, In the Name of Education, page 159:
But from the way that actual Republican candidates toe-dance when they address actual abortion questions, it's clear that Republicans have finally gotten it through their thick skulls that even Republican women want abortion to be available at least as an option under certain circumstances.2014, P. J. O'Rourke, The C.E.O. of the Sofa:
For the first number Bob presented another Bob, namely Bob Murphy, a Cambridge boy who started things going with a snappy toe-dance.1935, Conrad Aiken, King Coffin, page 206:
They showed teens how to skate with the new beat of rock and roll—including the “tanglefoot,” a type of toe-dance with a bit of Elvis swivel thrown in.2014, Dan Gogerty, Farmlines: Living In the Days of Dumb Phones and Analog Apps:
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She had many suitors but she lived only for Miss Pride who adored her and often had her do a toe-dance for her visitors who were often kings and queens.2015, Susan J. Rosowski, Birthing a Nation:
Re Guy Davenport's toe-dance around Joan Didion's brilliant Rum River [May 7]: save the non-reviews for the non-books.1963, National Review - Volume 14, page 471:
Drawing fine distinctions between various covenants or agreements is a toe-dance around the rule and is wasted effort when the import of the statute can be given effect simply by stating that the documents are within the statute but that the intention of the parties shall prevail.1970, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Nevada, Volume 86, page 352: