Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux

[5] Accidentally discovered in 1953 in the archives of the Bolshoi Theater among the orchestral parts for another ballet, it came to the attention of George Balanchine, who successfully sought permission to use it for his own choreography.

This leads into a softly romantic grand adage of balances, turns, and lifts that swells to an ardent climax before subsiding to a gentle closing, ending in a famous pose: an exaggerated "fish dive" with the ballerina cradled at her hips between her partner's arms, her hands held in his, her legs neatly crossed at the ankles, and her face very close to the floor.

The air-flung coda builds dramatically with the music in high lifts, dazzling turns, and breathtaking leaps, as the ballerina flies across the stage into the waiting arms of her partner.

[9] Finally, she is carried offstage, high overhead, with one leg extended in front, her arms and head flung back in rapturous abandon.

The steps for the opening and closing parts of the ballet are much the same as those that Balanchine set at the beginning of his work on the piece, with Diana Adams and Jacques d'Amboise.