demi-pointe

There seems to be two kinds of Contemporary, one more Ballet-like, the other more Modern, the former being danced on high demi-pointe and involving long lifts of the leg giving it that airborne feel, the latter more Martha Graham-ish, more earthy and rooted as if springing up from the ground then returning to it.

Tonya Plank: So You Think You Can Dance Round 4 Eliminations 2008

Her demi-pointe was pretty but pointe would have been all the more poetic, and if she can do it, why didn't she?

Tonya Plank: So You Think You Can Dance First Round of Eliminations Unsurprising Though Unfortunate 2008

The perfect balance on a high demi-pointe, the shape of the hands, the crisp spotting with our heads, the turn-out of both legs, straight back, pressed-down shoulders -- the coordination of all these elements together.

Mao's Last Dancer Li, Cunxin, 1961- 2003

The perfect balance on a high demi-pointe, the shape of the hands, the crisp spotting with our heads, the turn-out of both legs, straight back, pressed-down shoulders -- the coordination of all these elements together.

Mao's last dancer Li, Cunxin, 1961- 2003

Poor Barbie: Her strangely contorted feet were forever on demi-pointe, so that even when she went shoeless her feet cried out insistently for high heels.

The Barbie Chronicles Yona Zeldis McDonough 1999

Poor Barbie: Her strangely contorted feet were forever on demi-pointe, so that even when she went shoeless her feet cried out insistently for high heels.

The Barbie Chronicles Yona Zeldis McDonough 1999

I am satisfied that your ankle joint is sufficiently flexible to form with the forefoot at a right-angle when on the demi-pointe.

Butterfly V.C. Andrews 1998

I am satisfied that your ankle joint is sufficiently flexible to form with the forefoot at a right-angle when on the demi-pointe.

Butterfly V.C. Andrews 1998

Taglioni beefed up her calves and sinewed her back so she could not merely pose on demi-pointe, but flit that way, could leap as high as a man, yet seem modestly feminine.

The Guardian World News Veronica Horwell 2011

He deploys elements of ballet vocabulary (arabesques, demi-pointe, etc.), and he honors and capitalizes on the classical proportions of ballet (you see a Cunningham phrase with pristine clarity and his dancers are truly beautiful in motion and in repose), yet no one would ever dream of calling him a ballet choreographer.

SFGate: Top News Stories Allan Ulrich 2010