About
Tradamis
Tradamis was founded in 2002 to exploit with the work that was in
prospect from the newly formed Slough Creative Partnership and we
delivered three major projects for 5 schools using 10 different
practitioners to a value of about £7500. Since then our work
has developed to not only include more project work but single days
teaching of specific modules including many for special needs,
teacher training, the production of resources, profile raising
events at museums, art galleries and festivals.
The organisation was originally 5 freelance practitioners and with a
few changes in personnel it has stayed the same size but with a far
wider network of individuals to call on for different events.
The second phase of our existence involved the conversion to a
Registered Charity, the creation of our first web site and our
establishment as the place to come to for anything to do with
Maypoles.
Our
Objective is now defined to the Charity Commission as follows
To promote the education of children and young people
by the provision of services, resources and equipment to enhance
their knowledge, appreciation and understanding of English
Traditional music, dance and cultural issues.
And in the same document our activities are outlined as
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The provision of teaching and resources to schools
through teaching sessions, workshops, concerts and possibly
residencies. The creation and publication of resources to
supplement this work. The provision of events for young people and
community groups
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The teaching to look at traditional, cultural and
vernacular arts, our living heritage and its links to historical
events and related recreational activities.
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The provision of specialist teachers and resources to
other organisations for major projects that they are running
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The involvement of freelance practitioners and other
organisations in our own projects
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 Penny
Brookman L.I.S.T.D.Dip, MA.PA, PGCE. has, for more than thirty
years, taught and performed a broad range of dance styles. In
addition to her professional Ballet and Theatre dance qualifications
she holds an MA in Performing Arts and has worked extensively with
T.A.P.S, as a teacher and performer in multi-cultural and
inter-disciplinary projects and also with Kintbury May Maids Morris,
Reading Cloggies, Tanglefoot, and ISIS clog and step dancers. She
has taken Morris and traditional dance around the world, including
Europe, America and Japan, as Foreman of Kintbury Morris, as well as
appearing on the BBC programme of Folk dance for schools, and in
venues as diverse as the New Forest show, and the Festival Hall.
Penny has worked as an artist in
residence, and taught children with learning and behavioural
difficulties, as well as hearing impaired and physically challenged
students, including work for Mencap.
Penny has current experience of
teaching a range of Gcse, AS/A2, and Btec performance courses, as
well as running a traditional mayday event for more than twenty five
years, and has taught all ages from 3yrs to 90yrs!
 Chris Goodwin took up the lute at the age of 19, and for the
last 13 years has been Secretary of the Lute Society, and editor of
The Lute; he has also edited and published collections of
lute songs from original manuscript sources. Has appeared on the
Radio 3 In Tune programme, on the Radio 4 Today
programme, and as a musician in the feature film Shakespeare in
Love, in Reeves’ Rogues: Blackbeard on the Discovery
Channel, in ITV’s Have I been here before? and has played,
briefly, on BBC’s The Weakest Link, Channel
4's
Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything,
Big Brother and University
Challenge Professionals.
He
has played on three CDs with the group Passamezzo, and four with the
soprano Jeni Melia.
He
has sung in numerous choirs, from childhood, and played the lute and
sung in a number of ensembles, including the folk/early music fusion
group Andwella, and The Giltspur Singers. He is a founder member of
English Ayres. Recent engagements include providing incidental music
for the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Henry VIII at
Stratford-on-Avon, giving the opening recital and lecture in the
first Krakow Lute Festival.
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 Anne Garrison is a qualified
teacher of movement and dance, training at Worcester College of
Higher Education in the 1970s. After
leaving college she was a member of the Instep Dance
Group based at Dunfermline College of PE Edinburgh, performing and
teaching dance in schools.
In
1993 she joined Reading Traditional & Step Dance Group and was
involved with running their very successful clog & step dance
festivals, after the closure of the Cloggies she was a founder
member and is now leader of Aldbrickham Clog & Step Dancers. Anne has
also worked on dance & drama projects.
 Shirley
Dixon has been involved in
traditional dance and song for 30 years. She studied history at the
University of Exeter, and started Morris dancing with the
newly-formed Glory of the West. She has taught Cotswold and
North-West Morris to some of the most highly-regarded women's teams
in the country, and in the 1980s ran and taught a clog-stepping team
based in Guildford. She also has long experience of social dance
('barn dance' and 'Playford dance') and a wide repertoire of
traditional songs. She is currently foreman (teacher) of Jackstraws
Morris and of Windsor Morris, and in that role often teaches Morris
to schoolchildren, folk festival-goers and youth groups.
 Diana Campbell-Jewitt
has been teaching traditional styles of dance since she was a
teenager and has recently become free lance after working for 12
years as National Education Manager for the EFDSS. She is a
qualified school teacher with a degree in History and Literature and
a Masters Degree in Cultural Studies. She is an author / editor of
many resource books, for use in schools, including, books on
Longsword Dance’, ‘Understanding Victorian Society through Dance’, a
collection of children’s games including skipping traditions,
‘Dancing; Round the Maypole’ and ‘Traditional British and Other
Dances’. Diana is keen to introduce the dance, song and games
traditions of the British Isles to a wider audience.
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Our Director
Mike Ruff, has
been the driving force behind Tradamis since its inception.
His background is as a dancer, caller and multi instrumentalist and
still attempts to have a separate career as a performer. He
currently dances with St Albans Morris, Nonsuch History & Dance and
runs at least 3 bands, Quicksilver, Lavender Village Band and Null
Nomine Daunce.