Tradamis

Traditional Dance and Music In Schools

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0118 947 4244

 

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01727 831917

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Who we are

Trustees
Jodie Robson

Penny Brookman

Elaine Palling

 

Director

Mike Ruff

 

Honorary Treasurer

Jodie Robson

 

Steering Committee

Mike Ruff

Penny Brookman

Anne Garrison

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Charity information

Map of teaching locations

 

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

  • 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

  • The teaching to look at traditional, cultural and vernacular arts, our living heritage and its links to historical events and related recreational activities.

  • The provision of specialist teachers and resources to other organisations for major projects that they are running

  • The involvement of freelance practitioners and other organisations in our own projects


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.

The inspiration behind his work in education has been the idea of putting our wonderful traditional heritage into its proper context and maximising the enjoyment that can bring.  Visit Mike's Web Site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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.


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 CampbellDiana 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.  


Practitioners

Mike Ruff 

Penny Brookman

Anne Garrison

Shirley Dixon

Alice Cade

Lucy Duff

Theresa Brockway

Chris Goodwin

Elaine Paling

Alison Rowley

Penny Pinder

Diana Campbell Jewitt


Tradamis is a registered charity.  Registration number 1109355