Tasty Morsels

Zakouski returns to the repertory

In Russia, Zakouski are little appetizers, meant to be consumed with vodka, preferably in good company. Peter Martins’s 1992 ballet of the same name—essentially an extended pas de deux— is like that too. I remember seeing it years ago, with Nikolaj Hübbe, for whom it was made in the 1990’s. I don’t remember whom he danced it with, which is also not surprising since the pas de deux pays more attention to the male dancer than it does to his female counterpart. It’s a show-off piece, not without charm, a little bit in the mode of Other Dances, except that the musical selections here are Russian: four pieces for piano and violin beginning with Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise and ending with Tchaikovsky’s Valse Scherzo op.34. All pieces one would be happy to listen to as one whiles away the afternoon reading a good book. (The music was played with lilt and grace by Kurt Nikkanen on the violin and Hanna Hyungjung Kim on the piano.) At the Oct. 5 matinee the dancers were Tiler Peck and her frequent partner/husband Roman Mejía, who more than fit the brief. The Peck-Mejías were charming and fancy-free, expansive, confident in their ability to sail through the ballet’s challenges–hops on pointe for Peck, big jumps and turns a la seconde with a bent leg for Mejía—without breaking a sweat. The partnering, a Martins specialty, is amazingly fluid, and was fluidly executed. The pair have more than impeccable timing; they hear the music, and show it, in the same way. It’s a joy just to watch Mejía catch Peck in the midst of a flurry of turns and ever-so- deftly pull her toward him without so much as slowing her momentum. The choreography is full of Russian mannerisms like heel-toe steps and slapping the knee, particularly in the man’s solo, where he does little kicks on a 3-note gesture in the violin to Parasha’s Song from Stravinsky’s opera Mavra. First with his back to us, then facing us, and then, once again, facing away. Then he does a series of turns, a few beaten jumps, a double tour, and lands, oh-so-serenly on one knee. Mejía has charm to burn, and panache; so does Peck, though at times I wish she felt less need to sell the steps. The charm is baked in already.