About The SpectorDance Company

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 and reflective of our community, such as the environment, our agricultural heritage, and those written about by literary masters who lived locally. Collaboration with outstanding non-arts organizations is key to every Company project. Educational Outreach is associated with all our performance projects. Programs are tailored to each venue.

Ocean Trilogy is a collaboration with Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute about the hopeful possibilities that result from cutting-edge ocean science research. Ocean Trilogy premiered in September 2017.

East West is a collaboration with Rancho Cielo about gang violence.

Ocean is a collaboration with Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) about the state of the world ocean, based on filmed interviews with award-winning scientists.

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."

Figures In The Dust is inspired by John Steinbeck's Pulitizer prize willing novel The Grapes of Wrath.

Red Pony is based on John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony, this 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

Ocean, Bird, Sky is inspired by the poetry of Robinson Jeffers, this dance media work looks at the natural beauty of the Monterey coastline.

Photography by William Roden / New Dawn Studios

2019 Upcoming Performances

• January 6 Alvin Ailey Theater as part of Association of Performing Arts Professional (New York City).
• April 13 Stanford University (Palo Alto)
• April 25 Sunset Center (Carmel)
  
• July 11 5th Annual Creativity at the Core Summer Institute
  
• July 12 Summer Reading Program - Monterey County Free Libraries
  
• TBA Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.
  

Luminaries of Monterey County,  Film produced by Mark Baer

“I’ve personally been thrilled and inspired by SpectorDance performances and am a strong believer in the synergy between educational value, building physical skills, grace, beauty, good health, and the positive environment that Spector Atkins and her staff and volunteers provide for under-served communities.” 
Bruce Delgado, Mayor of Marina
 
“We were very impressed by SpectorDance’s professionalism, organization and follow-through. Lesson plans were thorough and creative, and it was a joy to see the students make connections between their own lives and those of the characters in the books when speaking about the themes. The performance was lovely, and we received positive feedback from the students, who were clearly better prepared to absorb and understand the performance. Simply put, SpectorDance is an exceptional organization that represents the best of artistic values executed efficiently and professionally.”
Peter Lensik, former executive director of Sunset Center

“Fran’s artistic perspective is perhaps just what is needed in these uncertain times. She uses our collective energy, imagination, technology, space, and the gifts of our humanity to create something new and meaningful.  This visionary woman possesses the creativity to guide us toward all that we might be; where the strength of our art imbues our personal lives and our public identity. The Studio is striking with the twenty-two foot high ceilings and glows with natural sunlight. The only thing brighter is the light that shines from within the artistic director.”
Susan Rosen, Monterey Herald