Zakouski is a ballet made by Peter Martins, then ballet master in chief of New York City Ballet, set to four short concert pieces by four different Russian composers: Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14, Stravinsky's "Parasha's Song" from the opera Mavra, the fourth of Prokofiev's Cinq Melodies, and Tchaikovsky's Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34. It premiered on 17 November 1992 at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with costumes by Barbara Matera.
What is danced
The article does not supply a synopsis or any description of steps, so the movement vocabulary cannot be documented from this source. What can be established is structural: the work centers on a pas de deux substantial enough that it was later split between two couples for a single performance -- Nikolaj Hübbe partnering Yvonne Borree, alongside Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette dancing the roles for the first time -- which indicates the ballet carries at least one duet role that can be shared or double-cast rather than a single fixed pairing throughout. Beyond that, the four-composer, four-movement musical structure (Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky) implies a suite form of short, discrete dances rather than a single continuous narrative piece, but the article gives no detail on what is actually danced in each movement.
Context
The premiere falls within Peter Martins's tenure as ballet master in chief of New York City Ballet, the company Balanchine had led until his death in 1983; Martins inherited and continued the company's practice of building short, plotless works to concert music rather than narrative ballets. The article gives no further context on where this piece sits relative to the rest of his output or the company's repertory of the period beyond the bare production facts.
Staging history
The work premiered with Margaret Tracey and Nikolaj Hübbe, and the role was the first Peter Martins created specifically for Hübbe at City Ballet. Hübbe returned to dance it at his farewell performance on 10 February 2008 at the New York State Theater, where the pas de deux was divided between him and Yvonne Borree and between Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette, the latter two dancing it for the first time; the article does not mention any staging beyond New York City Ballet.
How to watch it
Attend to the central pas de deux and how it is shared or handed off between casts -- the 2008 performance split it between an outgoing principal pairing and a debuting younger couple, which is itself a piece of performance history worth watching for in any revival. Beyond that framing detail, the article does not specify choreographic conventions to look for.
Credits
- composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff
Related works
Other staged works in the register connected to this one by author or lineage.
