Fiddle Me This: Michael Ismerio in Town to Lead a Home Plate Square Dance

The Home Plate Bar-B-Que Hoedown on Thursday, November 21 may be sold out, but if you were lucky enough to snag a ticket, you'll have the pleasure of listening to U.S. fiddler Michael Ismerio call a square dance (and then join in of course). Ismerio is in Beijing for his second visit in two-and-a-half years, and when he's not playing at Home Plate or The Bookworm, he is traveling to universities across the country to host old time music and square dance workshops. We asked him about bringing Americana music to China, bringing his fiddle on the train when he rode the rails (yes, ticket-free), and about teaching that move they call a do-si-do.

Would you say it’s your personal mission to help the Americana and old time music scene take off in China?
Sure, I would love to see it grow, but I wouldn’t say it’s my mission. What’s important to me is not that people square dance and play old time music, but that people dance and play music. And while it doesn’t have to be this kind of music or dancing, square dancing and old time music lends itself to people who are otherwise shy to dance and play music. I’m very sensitive to cultural imperialism, so I don't think it’s incredibly important that the U.S. export its culture to other places, but I think it’s important that human beings in general have music and dance as part of their life.

Is it difficult to get people excited about a dancing style that they may have no connection with?
It’s not hard at all because people find it exotic, and people are attracted to things that are exotic. What’s hard is to get people in North Carolina to square dance because there it’s not exotic.

So I assume it’s still common for square dancing to be taught in PE class in the U.S.?
Everywhere I go, the first thing people usually tell me is that they learned square dancing in elementary school. It was pretty much 50-50 between people who loved it and people who were traumatized by it.

It was definitely one of those classes where you thought to yourself, “I am never going to use this information again.” I wish I paid more attention…
You don’t have to remember it! With the style of dancing I teach, it’s not about learning, it’s about doing. I just throw a bunch of people on the dance floor, and we dance. It’s like playing a game, like we’re going to get out on this field and we’re just going to play this game, and I’ll give you the rules, but once it’s over, you don’t need to remember them. That’s very important to me.

Have you seen any trends in terms of participants? Do you have trouble getting dancers to overcome shyness and join the group?
During my last trip, I was almost entirely playing for expats, and this trip, my audience was almost entirely Chinese people. People of all ages join in – it’s been a really great mix. There are definitely people who need some encouragement to get on the dance floor, but once you get them there, they just let loose.

You’ve brought along your fiddle when you rode the rails across the U.S., and you said they always stayed in tune. Now you’ve brought it all the way to Beijing. Are they pretty easy to take care of?
Fiddles aren’t as fragile as you may think. There’s like 400 years of design thrown into a fiddle, and they’re constructed to be really strong.

You’re halfway through your second visit to Beijing. Do you have any unusual experiences to share?
The strangest part about this tour is that I’ve never been treated so well before. I’m getting picked up by drivers, having everything planned out, being put up in hotels, having meals ready, people taking me everywhere I need to go, and just getting the red carpet treatment. So that’s the most venerable thing for me, aside from being amazed at Chinese people’s willingness to dance.

What do you think of Chinese food?
I love Chinese food. My godmother is from Taiwan, so I grew up eating Chinese food. I just can’t get enough. It’s kind of a letdown when some of the universities have served us Western food, and I’m like “Aw, I didn’t come to china to eat Western food!”

To learn more about Ismerio, fiddling or square dancing, check out his website or Squaredancehistory.org. Check out photos from his last Beijing performance here.

Photos: Laurent Hou