SpectorDance Company:
Creating & Presenting Dance That Makes A Difference
SpectorDance Company presents issue-based multidisciplinary works using a signature style that blends visual media, verbal material, and music with dance. Fran Spector Atkins, lead artist has collaborated with William Roden, a nationally recognized media artist, for over 25 years. Together they have created dance works that address some of today’s most pressing socio-economic topics such as climate change, gang violence and juvenile justice, agricultural history, military family sacrifice and more.
Artistic Practice
Each SpectorDance project begins with the selection of a topic about a critical social issue that affects our community. We then embark upon extensive research and seek out experts in the field to interview. Once these interviews have been collected and recorded, selected sound bites are woven in with related visual images and a music mix. Finally, dancers explore movements that physically express the concepts covered and their responses to them. In this way, we believe that our artistic practice can inform and communicate in new and powerful ways.
Every project is unique, and involves SpectorDance forging meaningful partnerships with a wide variety of outstanding non-arts organizations. Past collaborators include the Monterey Aquarium Research Institute and Rancho Cielo, an award-winning vocational training program for at-risk young adults. These partnerships enable us to delve into socially-relevant topics from firsthand perspectives, reach broader audiences, and translate facts and empirical information into a dynamic art experience. Innovative engagement programs that bring dance, artistry and education to the community are also associated with each project. Our works employ dance to inform, heal, transform, build community and inspire action.
Every project is unique, and involves SpectorDance forging meaningful partnerships with a wide variety of outstanding non-arts organizations. Past collaborators include the Monterey Aquarium Research Institute and Rancho Cielo, an award-winning vocational training program for at-risk young adults. These partnerships enable us to delve into socially-relevant topics from firsthand perspectives, reach broader audiences, and translate facts and empirical information into a dynamic art experience. Innovative engagement programs that bring dance, artistry and education to the community are also associated with each project. Our works employ dance to inform, heal, transform, build community and inspire action.
Past Creative Projects
Figures in the Dust, inspired by Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
Common Ground, about California Agriculture today
East West, about gang culture
Ocean Trilogy, about ocean health and climate change
In Real Time, about the Coronavirus experience
Upcoming
Wildfires (work-in-progress)
Figures in the Dust, inspired by Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
Common Ground, about California Agriculture today
East West, about gang culture
Ocean Trilogy, about ocean health and climate change
In Real Time, about the Coronavirus experience
Upcoming
Wildfires (work-in-progress)
“Wildfires” a new multi-disciplinary performance that brings together scientific and Indigenous knowledge with stories from those who have firsthand experience with the destructive and regenerative power of fire.
“It’s an extreme emergency. Mother Nature is calling” Tom Little Bear Nason, Chief the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County
From Canada to Maui, wildfires are becoming more prevalent and more severe. Driven by climate change, drought, the expansion of urban boundaries, and misguided policies of fire suppression, wildfires are blackening our skies, damaging our forests and iconic trees, affecting our air quality. and destroying our homes. As with every natural disaster, wildfires disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color.
Native American culture has always stressed the importance of living in balance with nature and use of controlled burns as a way to manage wildfires. But in the 18th century this practice was outlawed. Now we are realizing that this was a profound mistake. Forests are now overwhelmed with brush that ignites and spreads. Scientists and firefighters are seeking to learn about Indigenous practices.
Our creative practice begins with research. We seek experts to interview on film. Once these interviews have been collected and recorded, selected sound bites are woven in with related visual images and a music mix. Finally, dancers explore movements that physically express the concepts covered. In this way, our artistic practice merges factual information with aesthetic elements and aims to inform and communicate in new and powerful ways.
For “Wildfires” lead artist Fran Spector Atkins and media artist William Roden interviewed Tom Little Bear Nason, (Chief of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County) Jamie Tuitele-Lewis (Scientist and Fire Mitigation Specialist at the Monterey Resource Center), and Elliot Maiorana (Firefighter). Fran is also collaborating with composer Chad Hamill/čnaq'ymi (Spokane Tribe and CalArts). In addition to music composition, he serves as a guide to the culturally sensitive aspects of this project. Fran is also thrilled to be working with an outstanding group of LA-based performers/co-creators: Charlotte Katherine Smith (assistant) Phillip Wainwright and Stephanie Mazirahi.
Fran says “It is an honor and a privilege to partner with such extraordinary cultural consultants as Tom and Chad. I am eager to learn from them about Indigenous practices and to translate what I learn into theatrical experiences for diverse audiences. This project will lift the voices of those in our community who have been silenced. It will offer new ways to address the urgent environmental problems we all face, approaches that are imbued with respect, reverence, and reciprocity.”
“Wildfires” will include associated engagement opportunities for audiences, especially those people who have been impacted by fire, to process their experience through a series of creative movement workshops.
“Wildfires” is based on a belief that performance can be a ritual and spiritual tool for dealing with the eco-crisis we all face and that Indigenous ways of knowing are key to the future of humanity. Artists have a responsibility and an opportunity to weigh in and be part of the conversation on critical issues we all face. The topic of wildfires is an evocative topic with emotional power and metaphor. It is fertile territory for artistic exploration and interpretation. It is also a complex and important subject that needs to be broadly communicated.
“Upcoming performances of “Wildfires” as a work-in-progress will take place on October 7 and 8, 2023 at the Outdoor Forest Theater Carmel-by-the Sea and March 15, 2024 at the Stanton Theater in King City. This work will premiere at the San Francisco International Arts Festival in 2024 and will be available for tour in late 2024-25.
“It’s an extreme emergency. Mother Nature is calling” Tom Little Bear Nason, Chief the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County
From Canada to Maui, wildfires are becoming more prevalent and more severe. Driven by climate change, drought, the expansion of urban boundaries, and misguided policies of fire suppression, wildfires are blackening our skies, damaging our forests and iconic trees, affecting our air quality. and destroying our homes. As with every natural disaster, wildfires disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color.
Native American culture has always stressed the importance of living in balance with nature and use of controlled burns as a way to manage wildfires. But in the 18th century this practice was outlawed. Now we are realizing that this was a profound mistake. Forests are now overwhelmed with brush that ignites and spreads. Scientists and firefighters are seeking to learn about Indigenous practices.
Our creative practice begins with research. We seek experts to interview on film. Once these interviews have been collected and recorded, selected sound bites are woven in with related visual images and a music mix. Finally, dancers explore movements that physically express the concepts covered. In this way, our artistic practice merges factual information with aesthetic elements and aims to inform and communicate in new and powerful ways.
For “Wildfires” lead artist Fran Spector Atkins and media artist William Roden interviewed Tom Little Bear Nason, (Chief of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County) Jamie Tuitele-Lewis (Scientist and Fire Mitigation Specialist at the Monterey Resource Center), and Elliot Maiorana (Firefighter). Fran is also collaborating with composer Chad Hamill/čnaq'ymi (Spokane Tribe and CalArts). In addition to music composition, he serves as a guide to the culturally sensitive aspects of this project. Fran is also thrilled to be working with an outstanding group of LA-based performers/co-creators: Charlotte Katherine Smith (assistant) Phillip Wainwright and Stephanie Mazirahi.
Fran says “It is an honor and a privilege to partner with such extraordinary cultural consultants as Tom and Chad. I am eager to learn from them about Indigenous practices and to translate what I learn into theatrical experiences for diverse audiences. This project will lift the voices of those in our community who have been silenced. It will offer new ways to address the urgent environmental problems we all face, approaches that are imbued with respect, reverence, and reciprocity.”
“Wildfires” will include associated engagement opportunities for audiences, especially those people who have been impacted by fire, to process their experience through a series of creative movement workshops.
“Wildfires” is based on a belief that performance can be a ritual and spiritual tool for dealing with the eco-crisis we all face and that Indigenous ways of knowing are key to the future of humanity. Artists have a responsibility and an opportunity to weigh in and be part of the conversation on critical issues we all face. The topic of wildfires is an evocative topic with emotional power and metaphor. It is fertile territory for artistic exploration and interpretation. It is also a complex and important subject that needs to be broadly communicated.
“Upcoming performances of “Wildfires” as a work-in-progress will take place on October 7 and 8, 2023 at the Outdoor Forest Theater Carmel-by-the Sea and March 15, 2024 at the Stanton Theater in King City. This work will premiere at the San Francisco International Arts Festival in 2024 and will be available for tour in late 2024-25.
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