Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped the dance world and is still taught in academies worldwide.
Graham danced and taught for over s ...
ballet set to
ragtime
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 Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
compositions by
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) 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 ...
. The work premiered on October 2, 1990 at
New York City Center
New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama, and the New York City Center 55th Street Theater) is a performing arts center at 131 West 55th Street (Manhattan), 55th Street between Sixth Avenue, Six ...
with costumes by
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer. In 1968, he launched the company that later became Calvin Klein. In addition to clothing, he has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewellery. ...
and lighting by David Finley. 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
Louis Horst (born January 12, 1884, Kansas City, Missouri – died January 23, 1964, New York City) was a composer, and pianist. He helped to define the principles of modern dance choreographic technique, most notably the matching of choreography ...
, who would play the rag for her whenever she fell into a creative slump. 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.
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. Graham had discovered the rocking chair-bench hybrid when the
Martha Graham Dance Company
The Martha Graham Dance Company, founded by Martha Graham in 1926, is both the oldest dance company in the United States and the oldest integrated dance company. The company is critically acclaimed in the artistic world and has been recognized as " ...
appeared at
Spoleto USA
Spoleto (, also , , ; ) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is south of Trevi, north of Terni, southeast of Perugia; southeast of Florence; and north of Rome.
Hist ...
in Charleston.
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!"
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.
The ballet is approximately 15 minutes in length. Three Scott Joplin rags provide the work's structure: ''
Maple Leaf Rag
The "Maple Leaf Rag" (copyright registered on September 18, 1899) is an early ragtime musical piece composed for piano by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, becoming the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. It ...
'' (1899) opens the dance, followed by the
waltz
The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...
Elite Syncopations
"Elite Syncopations" is a 1902 ragtime piano composition by American composer Scott Joplin, originally published in 1903 by John Stark & Son.
Critical reception
''Maple Leaf Rag'' was Graham's 180th choreographic work. 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.
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."
Those most familiar with the troupe's repertory better understood the inside jokes. A takeoff on the "dart" step from ''
Errand into the Maze
''Errand into the Maze'' is a Martha Graham ballet based on a poem by Ben Belitt set to music by Gian Carlo Menotti. The surrealistic set was designed by Isamu Noguchi, the costumes by Graham herself. The dance uses the Greek myth of Ariadne and ...
'' was recognized by one reviewer. Another noticed '' Night Journeys "hiccupping" Furies. 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
''Appalachian Spring'' is an American ballet created by the choreographer Martha Graham and the composer Aaron Copland, later arranged as an orchestral work. Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Copland composed the ballet music for Gra ...
'', and...the exalted kick turns from the white-clad Graham solo ''Letter to the World'', ending in a sobering yet giggle-worthy frozen pose."
Performance history
An audience favorite since the first performance, ''Maple Leaf Rag'' is a staple of the Graham company repertoire. It is also included in ''Three Dances by Martha Graham'', a TV program produced by
WNET
WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...
for
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
.
Terese Capucilli
Terese Capucilli is an American modern dancer, interpreter of the roles originally performed by Martha Graham. She is one of the last generation of dancers to be coached and directed by Graham herself. A principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dan ...
appears as the Graham surrogate.
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. Known for her distinctive deep husky voice, she is the recipient of two Golden Globes, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy, and two Tony Awards.
After debuting ...