Famed Dunham Touch Turns Opera Into a 'Life Situation' Production

              Famed Dunham Touch Turns Opera Into a 'Life Situation' Production

From Rome, Italy, to Southem Illinois University at Carbondale.
From choreographer for the film ''The Bible,'' directed by John Huston, to choreographer for the University Opera Workshop production of "Faust."
That's the most recent itinerary for Katherine Dunham, world-renowned choreographer and dancer.
Miss Dunham came to SIU as artist-in-residence to write and direct the ballet sequences for Gounod's opera to be staged In Shryock Auditorium   next   weekend.
"It   has  provided  a  commentary for me," says Miss Dunham, "That's what an artist strives to do when the setting is propitious."
And "Faust" as being staged at SIU offers that setting by being brought up to date.
For instance, when Mephistophles escorts Faust on a tour of his kingdom to demonstrate his control over evil and over man, the Devil's realm is a German concentration camp in the early days of World War II. What Faust sees makes his blood run cold.
In this ballet scene "we use elements that are shocking, chilling to portray conduct that was the most elaborate form of evil that we've known in our generation,"    says   Miss   Dunham.
"This has been difficult to do and still retain a sense of grotesque satire, a fantasy of life."
Miss Dunham recalls that when originally performed Gounod's opera did not have the ballet music now known by the world.
"It was sort of sneaked in," she says. "The music must have been written either when Gounod was bored or with tongue in cheek. It's difficult to  feel  that  he  was seric about it.
Nevertheless, she add "The ballet in the past has not fit in with what is being said. We've tried to integrate the ballet into the story that it is not extraneous. We're taken a life situation rather than the traditional form
As a result, the internatic ally recognized Dunham technique  of  using the primitive and   the classic ballet utilized to give more meaning to the performance.
This    admittedly   requires trained    dancers, but Miss Dunham says the students the corps de ballet "have do surprisingly well."