Yet another take on the pas de deux is Lar Lubovitch’s “Each in Their Own Time,” a Brahms-set duet which Adrian Danchig-Waring and Taylor Stanley—both of whom are retiring from the company in the next season—perform. 

The principals are a natural pair. Both have a strong sense of musicality and an easygoing approach to its fluidity, floating through pirouettes in attitude and fluttery temps de flèche. Especially as they take turns across the piece’s three movements—one moving through a passage as the other walks slowly and watches—it’s like they’re trading ideas or playing a game. The latter image is particularly prominent when they repeat a motif of hand-to-hand partnering, weaving around one another in different configurations. Rather than a competition of one-upmanship that one might expect in this kind of pairing, “Each in Their Own Time” most clearly conveys a sense of gentility between the dancers—thanks equally to Lubovitch’s lyrical choreography and Danchig-Waring and Stanley’s grace.

Two larger ensemble works break up this run of pas de deux. The first is “Passage of Being” by Jodie Gates, performed by a six-dancer cast from Dance Theatre of Harlem. This evening, Alexandra Hutchinson and Ariana Dickerson dance with Micah Bullard, Julian Cottrell, Sean Miller, and David Wright across three movements, set to a cinematic score by Ryan Lott, as well as Son Lux’s “Don’t Say It’s Too Late.”

When the dancers enter and form a circle, the stage is dabbled with light, as if it’s been filtered through a cover of leaves. Almost immediately, they find themselves in different pairings, sweeping through varied lifts and promenades. When they move together, they present their arms forward, as if in a gesture of offering, or swing their arms in a circle, while moving a leg back in rond de jambe.

The second movement of the piece elevates the intensity with a more passionate pas de deux, the ballerina contorting herself around her partner’s body and moving off her center of gravity as she is dragged back in arabesque. In the third and final movement, the dancers are sprightly as they spin through piqué tour en dehors. Most compelling is the final image, as all the dancers, save one ballerina, step backwards into the darkened stage. She keeps moving—almost compulsively, jumping and throwing her legs in grand battement, shifting from side to side until the curtain goes all the way down.