A Dance Through History

Click on the book if you would like to order a copy:

Published in May 2026 A Dance Through History by Mike Ruff looks at the story of English Country Dancing alongside social and costume history. Alongside many lavish illustrations there are contributions on history from Pat Simpson, and a costume commentary from Ann Wise and clear instructions for twenty dances are included.

Music for the dances in CD and downloadable form will be available later in the Mike Ruff has been performing and teaching historical and country dances for many years and delivering various talks on the subject since 2012. The original idea for the book arose from a series of workshops and school events in 2015 – 2017 but books can take a while!

[Meanwhile, there are workshops planned for Maidenhead, Linslade and St Albans over the next 6 months and a Regency Garden Party at the Swiss Garden in July 2017.
Workshops can be a one off, or in a series. There was a 6 week series in Cambridge in Autumn 2015 and new series are planned]

A Dance Through History combines Mike Ruff’s work on teaching aspects of historical dance, giving talks on the development of English Country Dance, his workshops for dance groups, festivals and overseas visitors and his work as a performer and musician.

[There have been workshop series at Bushey Academy where Mike linked with Pat Simpson who was, at the time, head of history and more recently at the Cambridge museum of technology working with Pam Halls and costume expert Ann Wise].

It was Ann Wise, when working at the British Schools Museum who first suggested that Mike should deliver talks which under the heading ‘Court Entertainment to Ceilidh’ are increasingly popular. The Dancing Through History project brings all these strands together and combines Mike’s dance expertise with Pat Simpson’s historical knowledge and Ann Wise’s insight into costume..

The CD to go with the dances is being recorded with the help of Deborah Charmers and Mike’s band; Quicksilver and will be available some time over the next few months.