pas de deux

alternative pas-de-deux

1. danceA dance performed by two dancers.

   The way in which they dance[…] the final passion of a pas-de-deux; and the going off with a bound!—I shall never see a real ballet, with a composed countenance again.

   1846, Charles Dickens, Pictures from Italy, London: […] Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   The Russian was a beautiful youth, like a sun-god with his flying yellow locks and glorious symmetry of body, and the pas de deux between him and Magda was a thing to marvel at.

   1921, Margaret Pedler, chapter 5, in The Lamp of Fate

   But at the end of the show, as two senior citizens are brought from the audience to dance together — first tentatively, then springing into a graceful acrobatic pas de deux — we realize that the human body's most sensuous organ is the head.

   2003 November 19, Richard Corliss, “That Old Feeling: The Show at the Casino”, in Time

2. figurativelyA complicated relationship or process involving two entities, usually persons.

   There is a seductive and terminal pas-de-deux going on between the real right in this country and their "opposition," the liberals. It is deadly for us to get caught in their maneuverings.

   1978 December 9, Mitzel, “Post-Briggs Blues”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 20, page 5

   2 more examples

   But "White Nights" has been made in a cynical world where it is actually believed that a dance movie will interest more people if it is also a thriller: a pas de deux between the CIA and the KGB, if you will.

   1985, Roger Ebert, "White Nights" film review

   As the rectum fills with the products of digestion, it signals, through nerves running into the sacral region of the spinal cord, that defecation may be necessary. The internal and external anal sphincters then begin a culturally mediated pas de deux, the former pressing for release and the latter restricting discharge until the opportune moment.

   2018, Alex Blasdel, “Bowel movement: the push to change the way you poo”, in Guardian