Maple Leaf Rag (ballet)

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Maple Leaf Rag is a storyless Martha Graham ballet set to ragtime compositions by Scott Joplin. The work premiered on October 2, 1990 at New York City Center with costumes by Calvin Klein and lighting by David Finley. [1] Chris Landriau arranged the music and played piano at the debut. The dance is a jubilant self-parody and an homage, of sorts, to Graham's mentor and musical director, Louis Horst, who would play the rag for her whenever she fell into a creative slump. [2] Graham was 96 when she created Maple Leaf Rag; it is her last completed dance. In 1991, she began another work, The Eyes of the Goddess, but it was unfinished at the time of her death. [3]

Contents

Synopsis

The curtain rises to reveal a grand piano at the rear of a darkened stage. The only other set element is a joggling board, a long springy plank set on two upright supports with rocker feet. [2] Graham had discovered the rocking chair-bench hybrid when the Martha Graham Dance Company appeared at Spoleto USA in Charleston. [4]

The musician enters first and sits at the piano, repeatedly striking a foreboding chord. The dancers come in, initially a couple executing an overhead lift, then a circle of dancers, leaping and landing dramatically to the pounding of the piano. A female ensemble member breaks away from the group to perform a bouncing dance on the joggling board. The audience then hears Graham's recorded voice, "Oh Louis, play me the Maple Leaf Rag!" [5]

As Joplin's music starts, the stage lights come up. Six couples dance joyfully around the board on which the lone female now reclines. The pianist briefly interrupts the rag to reprise the ominous beat as a somber white-gowned, chignoned figure crosses the stage in a series of swirling turns. As she exits, the ensemble returns to joyous movement. [6]

The ballet is approximately 15 minutes in length. Three Scott Joplin rags provide the work's structure: Maple Leaf Rag (1899) opens the dance, followed by the waltz Bethena (1905) and Elite Syncopations (1902); a reprise of Maple Leaf Rag concludes the dance. [7]

The work is brimming with parodies of Graham's signature moves and send-ups of her best-known dances. Her twirling white-clad surrogate crosses the stage intermittently, accompanied each time by ill-boding percussive piano. Graham also pokes fun at the overwrought sexuality of some her repertory. Just before darkness hides the remaining couple on stage, he tears off her skirt. [2]

Critical reception

Maple Leaf Rag was Graham's 180th choreographic work. [8] Even so, reviewers noted, she still had the capacity to surprise and delight. "The new piece is an entertaining poke by a genius at her own cliches, tersely and wittily stated," wrote The New York Times' Anna Kisselgoff. [2]

A critic seeing a much later performance said, "While she worked out her obsessions onstage, Graham also had a keen but oft-overlooked sense of humor. Set to several Scott Joplin rags that were still in vogue during her teenage years, Maple Leaf Rag is a sly and playful dance that effectively employs Graham's expressive vocabulary while winking at her own cliches." [9]

Those most familiar with the troupe's repertory better understood the inside jokes. A takeoff on the "dart" step from Errand into the Maze was recognized by one reviewer. [10] Another noticed Night Journey's "hiccupping" Furies. [2] The dance critic for San Francisco Classical Voice identified "the dancers' foot-to-foot from Acrobats of God, the grabs and grimaces from Clytemnestra, the ecstatic clapping of the acolytes in Appalachian Spring , and...the exalted kick turns from the white-clad Graham solo Letter to the World, ending in a sobering yet giggle-worthy frozen pose." [11]

Performance history

An audience favorite since the first performance, Maple Leaf Rag is a staple of the Graham company repertoire. [12] It is also included in Three Dances by Martha Graham, a TV program produced by WNET for PBS. Terese Capucilli appears as the Graham surrogate. Kathleen Turner provides the narration. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ragtime</span> Music genre

Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott Joplin, James Scott, and Joseph Lamb. Ragtime pieces are typically composed for and performed on piano, though the genre has been adapted for a variety of instruments and styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Joplin</span> American composer and pianist (1868–1917)

Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Graham</span> American dancer and choreographer (1894–1991)

Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maple Leaf Rag</span> Ragtime composition for piano by Scott Joplin

The "Maple Leaf Rag" is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, becoming the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. It is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces. Its success led to Joplin being dubbed the "King of Ragtime" by his contemporaries. The piece gave Joplin a steady if unspectacular income for the rest of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joggling board</span>

A joggling or jostling board is a long, pliable board that is supported on each end by wooden stands. The board is springy and a person sitting on it can easily bounce up and down. Sources differ on the origin; its usage in the Lowcountry of South Carolina around Charleston in the early 19th century is however rather well-documented.

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Elite Syncopations is a one-act ballet created in 1974 by Kenneth MacMillan for The Royal Ballet.

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References

  1. ↑ "Maple Leaf Rag". Hyper Martha. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Kisselgoff, Anna (October 4, 1990). "Review/Dance; Graham Meets Scott Joplin With a Bounce". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  3. ↑ Kisselgoff, Anna (October 10, 1991). "Review/Dance; 'Eyes of the Goddess,' a Fragment Left by Graham". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Becker, Ida (October 14, 2009). Charleston Icons: 50 Symbols of the Holy City. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 12.
  5. ↑ "Ballet Maple Leaf Rag". YouTube. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Wood, Darrell (11 April 2014). "Martha Graham Dance Company's Program A at the New York City Center, 2014…". NYC Dance Stuff. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  7. ↑ Laruccia, Natalie. "Maple Leaf Rag - a photo essay". Exploredance.com. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  8. ↑ Voorhees, John (January 7, 1993). "'Maple Leaf Rag' Comes To Life In 'Dance In America'". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Gilbert, Andrew (January 27, 2014). "Martha Graham Company returns to Berkeley with 'Appalachian Spring' on tap". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  10. ↑ Bannerman, Henrietta. "Dancing for laughs: Martha Graham and comedy". criticaldance.com. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  11. ↑ Berman, Janice (January 31, 2014). "All Hail Martha Graham: A Company Alive and Well". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Martha Graham Dance Company Repertory". Martha Graham Dance Company. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  13. ↑ Goldner, Nancy (December 28, 1992). "Trio Of Dances By Martha Graham To Air On PBS". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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