Two dancers, male in all white and a woman in black, are in arabesque on stage

Repertory

Pas De Duke

CHOREOGRAPHER

RUN TIME

12 Minutes

WORLD PREMIERE

New York City Center, 1976

RESTAGING

Matthew Rushing and Ronni Favors

MUSIC

Duke Ellington: “Such Sweet Thunder” (1957), “Sonnet for Caesar” (1957), “Sonnet to Hank Cinq” (1957), “The Clothed Woman” (1948), “Old Man Blues” (1930). Used with the permission of Tempo Music, Inc., Mercer Ellington Publishing and G. Schirmer Inc.

COSTUMES

Rouben Ter-Arutunian

LIGHTING

Chenault Spence

MUSICAL STYLE

Jazz

Pas de Duke is Alvin Ailey’s spirited modern dance translation of a classical pas de deux, originally created in 1976 as a showcase for Judith Jamison and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She was a reigning star of modern dance and he was one of the world’s most famous ballet dancers, having defected from the Soviet Union two years earlier. Mr. Ailey made brilliant use of the dancers’ physical and stylistic differences, crafting an elegant, flirtatious work that showed off their exuberance and virtuosity as they engaged in a playful game of one-upmanship.

The work is comprised of five solos and duets that require extraordinary technical facility, flawless timing, and strong acting skills. Since its premiere, it has been performed by generations of dancers who have each put their own unique twist on the choreography. It has stood the test of time in part for how perfectly it captures the sassy sophistication of Duke Ellington's jazz music. The New York Times has praised it as “one of those special dances that lives in new ways with each new set of performers.” 
 

The Pas de Trois Behind 'Pas de Duke', The New York Times 

Listen to a Spotify Playlist of the songs featured in Alvin Ailey's Pas De Duke

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Funders

Support for Pas de Duke was provided by The Ellen Jewett & Richard L. Kauffman New Works Endowment Fund and Daria L. & Eric J. Wallach. The original Ailey production was made possible, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, and by a grant from Ford Foundation. Generous support for this production was received from Laren and Jesse Brill.

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