SpectorDance THANKS all who donated through
Monterey County Gives! in support of
When You Were Gone.

 Our 2019 MC Gives “Big Idea” .....
SpectorDance's artistic director and founder, Fran Spector Atkins, is teaming up with Porter Center for military families executive director Dorrane Colman, media artist William Roden, consultant and filmmaker Enid Baxter, and the SpectorDance Company to create a new multidisciplinary performance highlighting stories about military deployment from the perspective of children.

When You Were Gone will utilize the power of creativity to heal trauma arising from the complex realities of deployment and promote public understanding of the experiences of veterans and their families. Ultimately, the piece aims to celebrate the essential role of the military in our democracy and to acknowledge the sacrifices of soldiers who put our country first.

Photo of Andrew Atkins deployed in Afghanistan 2016

Photo from a work-in progress showing of "When You Were Gone" at the CSUMB Salinas Center for Arts & Culture

The mission of SpectorDance is to provide excellence in dance training and performance. We accomplish this mission by offering a wide variety of dance-based activities that connect diverse artists and audiences, bridge disciplines through collaboration, and utilize dance to inform and inspire. The vision of SpectorDanceis to celebrate the powers of dance to expand community, nurture creativity, and fuel the human spirit.

Fran Spector Atkins is a tour de force in our community and throughout the country. She is an amazing teacher, dancer and choreographer who masterfully weaves her art making with dialogue about the toughest and most complex issues we face. We have all benefited tremendously from the incredible growth of her school, her choreographic works and her leadership during the past fifteen years that I have been the Executive Director of the Arts Council for Monterey County. She is a great asset to our region and an inspiration for everyone who meets her. Whenever I say that "the arts are the answer", I think often of Fran's gorgeous, daring, innovative and powerful work.
- Paulette Lynch, (former Executive Director of the Arts Council for Monterey County)

“The California Arts Council believes in the potential of the arts to enrich the lives of all our state’s residents, especially our young people,” said Nashormeh Lindo, California Arts Council Chair. “That belief does not change with our system-engaged youth; it grows stronger. The world we create for our young people today determines our world tomorrow. We are proud to support the work of SpectorDance.”

I deeply admire SD's forward-looking vision. I applaud the many dance-education programs in the area, but none of them makes so clear the connection between dance and the social issues with which we all confront on a daily basis. SD's embrace of gang violence and oceanic degradation, both of which profoundly afflict life in Monterey County, has revealed essential current truths that other area arts have as of yet to take notice. I cheer SpectorDance more for making those issues a much bigger part of daily life in our community, for representing the urgency these issues demand, not only to artists but to the rest of us who have no end of ways to look the other way.
SD makes its educational vision a matter of immediacy--hence action--that all other local arts institutions should embrace. I can think of no other arts program that is more deserving of widespread community support.
- Scott MacClelland (editor, Performing Arts Monterey Bay)

Make a donation today and support one of our many programs:
SpectorDance School, SpectorDance Company, SpectorDance on Site, Sadie-Rose Residency Program, Choreographers Showcase, Monterey Ocean Arts Festival

Thank you to our major donors!

• California Arts Council
• Community Foundation for Monterey County
• Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation
• Franklin Legacy Fund
• Chapman Foundation
• ​Rita & Luis Echenique Charitable Foundation
• National Endowment for the Arts
• Harden Foundation​
• Monterey County Weekly Community Fund
• Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation
• Arts Council for Monterey County
• Ron Chen & Diana Huang
• Harriet Mitteldorf
• S.T.A.R. Foundation
• Barnet J. Segal Charitable Trust
• Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Yellow Brick Road
• Hal & Jacque Eastman/Peregrine Images
• Karen & Jay Cook
• Susan & Richard Rosen
• Amanda Geurts & Hans Thomas
• Union Bank
• Charles Schwab
• Lumpkin Family Foundation 
• Nick & Catherine Fanoe
• Events California
• Office Depot
• Sheila Baker

We are also grateful for our additional supporters:
Anderson Family, Dr. Theresa Arteaga, Marcia Atkinson, Cher & Rob Appel, Elayne Azevedo, AEMTEK Laboratories, Kathleen & Wolfgang Baer, Terry & Joselyn Bare, Jeff Barrett, Gail & Jay Bartow, Shirley Blaine/Blaine Jewish Family Fund, Marilyn Brown, Amy Byington, Cima Collina Winery, Chipotle, Clarke Family, Jim & Karen Fanoe, Jim Ford (Ford Financials), Contreras-Mejia Family, Lois Cornell, Mary & Pierre Cousineau, Diane & Robert Creasy, Arlene & Stanely Dedini, Renee & Dave Dove, Itzel Vargas Draluce,  Earthbound Farm, Bridget & Joseph Eyraud, Charlotte Eyerman, Toni Gibbs/CauseCast Foundation, Anne Helms, Byong Hong (Marina Dry Cleaners), Nancy Harray, Kathleen Hills, Veronica Hills-Skerritt, Robby Hoffmann, Lisa Harwood, Hunter family, Brennen Jensen, Connie & Sam Katz, Pamela & Doug Keindl, Jin Kim, Scott Laxier, Terry Lebda, Maryann Leffel, Genevieve & Jimmy Long, Lucky’s Supermarkets/eScript, Melinda Nakagawa & Scott Nichols,  Paulette Lynch & Ken Peterson, William & Pamela Pinkerton, Rodney Pirtle, Steven & Ann Packer, Emy & Charles Paghasian, Jane Parker, Veronica Polovneff, Mary Pommerich, Beverly Jean Sadler Prowell, Karla Robertson, Kyra & Brian Schlining, Sally & Ken Sikes, Solar City, Amy Anderson & Dr. George Somero, Hailey & Savannah Speerstra, Kyle Stewart, Douglas Sunde, Linda & Roger Thompson, Harley Thompson,  Jacqueline Thompson, Jim Tunney Youth Foundation, Von Berg Family, Jim Woodard, Emily Zefferman, Bradley Zeve, James Atkins, Autumn Bonnema, Susie Brusa, Roberta Diebold, Morton Durham, Paige & Joseph Ettin, Daniel & Bonnie Fernandez, Chris Fitz, Brent Hill, Deborah Howitt, Billy & Tammy Jakl, Arlen & Cindy Lackey, Charles Limbach & Sara Lyon, Esther Lucas, Scott MacClelland, Jeanne & Steve Marino, Ellen Martin, Jeannie & Donald Morris, Emi Okada-Alonz, Steve & Ann Packer, Barbara Santry, SawTeen See & Leslie Robertson, Dale & Jeffrey Sklar, Kristine Tarozzi & Forrest Melton, Insuk & James Waider, Helen Westly, Lynne White-Dixon & Robert Dixon, Angela Updyke Bruent, Donna Mork, Gerry & Ann Enders, David Popalisky, Lee and Nancy Zimmerman, Evelyn Kahan, David and Susan Courrejou, Jane Franch, Natural Impressions, Ambassadors Providing Amazing Care

Banner: Dancer, Maggie Wagner
Photo by William Roden / New Dawn Studios