284 steps

According to American dancer and choreographer Ken Ludden (born 1952) there are 284 different steps in Classical Theatrical Dancing. In this project you can see and listen to Ludden explaining some of the steps and talking about the use or history how they came about. A list below shows Ludden's list of 284 steps.

It was intended to make 284 films. I travelled to Ludden's home and started recording when his time would allow for it. Purely for reasons of organisation, we started with the letter "A" and went step by step in alphabetical order.

During production Ludden was dealing with serious health complications and was also busy with other obligations. He was not able and did not have the time to record all 284 films. "Cabriole Derrière" (listed N. 40) was the last step a film was made about. Sometimes a step and its variations are together in one film - 38 films were made altogether.

Later that year, Ludden was in Zagreb coaching dancers and giving workshops during a series of Masterclasses. Cameraman Lukas Nürnberg and me spent two weeks in town staying in the studio and other venues filming him at work. Again, due to health issues and lack of time in the daily plannings, it was impossible to record more steps. I edited a film essay about the occuring difficulties working with him in that phase of his life. This "Making-of" film essay is N. 3 in the playlist below.