Fiddlesticks Bernstein (b. Malverne, New York, 1959) is a dancer and teacher in the United States who specializes in traditional American dance forms such as Appalachian-style clogging, flatfoot dancing, tap dance, and step dancing. He is considered an authority on clogging, and the leading figure in this dance style.[1][2] He calls himself a "percussive step dancer who specializes in Appalachian flatfooting," and also dances Green Grass style Appalachian clogging,[3] English clogging, French-Canadian step dancing, Irish step dancing, and South African gumboot dancing.
Also called "beating the straws" or "playing the straws," this technique probably arose in the eastern United States. British folklorist Fred McCormick reports that he has never encountered it among British and Irish fiddlers, and suggests that it may have arisen on American plantations as a substitute for African musical instruments.[1] The technique has become rarer over time as the music has changed,[2] but numerous examples have been recorded, for example in the "Mardi Gras Jig" by a group led by Cajun fiddler and singer Dewey Balfa,[3] or by Al and Emily Cantrell.[4]