Maple Leaf Rag (ballet) 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" (1899) opens the dance, followed by the waltz "Bethena" (1905) and "Elite Syncopations" (1902); a reprise of "Maple Leaf Rag" concludes the dance. 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
Maple Leaf Rag popularity as the Maple Leaf Rag did. The royalties earned by the sheet music sales did provide Joplin with a steady income for the rest of his life, however. Soon after the "Maple Leaf Rag's" publication the earliest recordings of the rag took place; band leader Wilbur Sweatman recorded it onto Phonograph cylinder a year later, but there are no known copies which have survived. The first surviving record of the rag comes from the second known recording of the rag by the United States Military Band from 1906. While Joplin never made an audio recording, his playing is preserved