Fran Spector Atkins is looking for company level dancers to perform in three different projects:
Common Ground, about California Agriculture, Ocean Trilogy, about ocean health and Wildfires,
a new work that brings together scientific and Indigenous knowledge about fire ecology.
Contact Fran for more information at fransspector5@gmail.com
Common Ground, about California Agriculture, Ocean Trilogy, about ocean health and Wildfires,
a new work that brings together scientific and Indigenous knowledge about fire ecology.
Contact Fran for more information at fransspector5@gmail.com
SpectorDance Company presents multidisciplinary performances using a signature style that blends music, spoken word, and visual media with dance. Fran Spector Atkins, choreographer/lead artist/creative director, collaborates with William Roden, a nationally recognized media artist. Together they create performance works that highlight themes relevant to our local community with global significance such as the environment, our agricultural heritage, ocean health, and those written about by literary masters who lived locally. Collaboration with outstanding non-arts organizations is key to every Company project.
SpectorDance's new performance and engagement project, Wildfires will employ the power of dance to make a positive impact on understanding the increasing prevalence and severity of wildfires and their relationship to climate change. It will bring together scientific and Indigenous knowledge of fire ecology and heighten awareness of best practices for protecting our forests. It will honor the past and celebrate our diverse community. It will embrace the destructive as well as the regenerative power of fire. Wildfires will bring forward new perspectives on the forest—ones imbued with reverence, reciprocity, responsibility, respect, and resilience.
Wildfires will premiere in fall of 2023. For more information, contact Fran Spector Atkins.
Fran Spector Atkins, director and founder of SpectorDance. For over 25 years, she has created dance works that addresses some of today’s most pressing socio-economic topics such as climate change, gangs and juvenile justice, agricultural history, and military family sacrifice. For each project she forge meaningful partnerships with a wide variety of outstanding non-arts organizations, such as the Monterey Aquarium Research Institute and Rancho Cielo, an award-winning vocational training program for at-risk young adults. These partnerships enable her to delve into socially-relevant topics and to reach broader audiences. Each project translates the information gathered into creative presentations. Innovative engagement programs are associated with each project. Her works employ dance to inform, heal, transform and build community. Click here to read Artistic Statement from Fran Spector Atkins.
SpectorDance's new performance and engagement project, Wildfires will employ the power of dance to make a positive impact on understanding the increasing prevalence and severity of wildfires and their relationship to climate change. It will bring together scientific and Indigenous knowledge of fire ecology and heighten awareness of best practices for protecting our forests. It will honor the past and celebrate our diverse community. It will embrace the destructive as well as the regenerative power of fire. Wildfires will bring forward new perspectives on the forest—ones imbued with reverence, reciprocity, responsibility, respect, and resilience.
Wildfires will premiere in fall of 2023. For more information, contact Fran Spector Atkins.
Fran Spector Atkins, director and founder of SpectorDance. For over 25 years, she has created dance works that addresses some of today’s most pressing socio-economic topics such as climate change, gangs and juvenile justice, agricultural history, and military family sacrifice. For each project she forge meaningful partnerships with a wide variety of outstanding non-arts organizations, such as the Monterey Aquarium Research Institute and Rancho Cielo, an award-winning vocational training program for at-risk young adults. These partnerships enable her to delve into socially-relevant topics and to reach broader audiences. Each project translates the information gathered into creative presentations. Innovative engagement programs are associated with each project. Her works employ dance to inform, heal, transform and build community. Click here to read Artistic Statement from Fran Spector Atkins.
Past works include:
- In Real Time is about the Coronavirus experience and thoughts on a post-Covid-19 world. (2020)
- Ocean Trilogy is a collaboration with Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute about the hopeful possibilities that result from cutting-edge ocean science research. (2019)
- When You Were Gone is inspired by military deployment as seen through the eyes of youth. (2019)
- East West is a collaboration with Rancho Cielo about gang violence. (2015)
- Ocean is a collaboration with Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) about the challenges confronting the ocean, inspired by filmed interviews with renowned ocean experts. (2013)
- Maize The Golden Thread is inspired by indigenous sustainable agricultural practices regarding corn, celebrating the Solstice, and about respecting knowledge of elders. (2008)
- Common Ground celebrates the poetry and politics of agriculture. This performance was a national finalist for Ovations Television Award for "Excellence in the Performing Arts." (2006)
- Figures In The Dust is inspired by John Steinbeck's novel. (2006)
- Border Crossing is based on interviews with Mexican farm workers in partnership with the United Farm Workers and was the first step toward the creation of Common Ground. (2004)
- Red Pony is based on John Steinbeck’s novel The Red Pony. A poignant and classic story set in the 1930’s on a farm in the Salinas Valley is a timeless tale about a child’s love of his pony and the feelings of loss that are an inevitable part of life experience. (2002)
- Ocean, Bird, Sky is inspired by the poetry of Robinson Jeffers, this dance media work looks at the natural beauty of the Monterey coastline. (1998)
Click video above to hear Fran talk about her signature style that weaves together factual and aesthetic elements. She blends music, spoken word, and visual media with dance to create productions that inform and inspire.
Testimonials
Spector Atkins’s work is intelligent and creative. She is exceptionally successful at blending artistry and scholarship in her work. Often inspired by the landscapes and people of Monterey County, her choreography is beautiful, even as she explores complex issues such as social justice and coming of age in a violent world. Fran’s collaborative work is of the highest caliber.”
Colleen Bailey, Former Executive Director of the National Steinbeck Center
"Fran Spector Atkins is a tour de force in our community and throughout the country. She masterfully weaves her art making with dialogue about the toughest and most complex issues we face. She is an asset to our region and an inspiration for everyone who meets her. Whenever I say that "the arts are the answer", I think of Fran's gorgeous, daring, innovative and powerful work." Paulette Lynch, former Executive Director of the Arts Council for Monterey County
Colleen Bailey, Former Executive Director of the National Steinbeck Center
"Fran Spector Atkins is a tour de force in our community and throughout the country. She masterfully weaves her art making with dialogue about the toughest and most complex issues we face. She is an asset to our region and an inspiration for everyone who meets her. Whenever I say that "the arts are the answer", I think of Fran's gorgeous, daring, innovative and powerful work." Paulette Lynch, former Executive Director of the Arts Council for Monterey County