SpectorDance Classes and Youth Company
SpectorDance, 3343 Paul Davis Dr, Marina, CA 93933
About
SpectorDance Classes and Youth Company focuses on dance and on presenting issue-based multidisciplinary works using a signature style that blends visual media, verbal material, and music with dance. Projects begin with the selection of a topic about a critical social issue that affects the community, and dancers explore movements that physically express the concepts covered and their responses. Sound bites from interviews are woven with related visual images and a music mix as part of these works, and each project involves partnerships with a wide variety of non-arts organizations.
SpectorDance’s mission is to “Create and Present Dance That Makes A Difference,” and its vision is “A world where everyone can be connected, informed, and inspired through the beauty and power of dance.” The Artistic Director and Founder, Fran Spector Atkins, is the lead artist and has collaborated with William Roden, a nationally recognized media artist, for over 25 years. Each project is based on extensive research and interviews with experts in the field, and innovative engagement programs that bring dance, artistry, and education to the community are associated with each project. Past collaborators include the Monterey Aquarium Research Institute and Rancho Cielo, an award-winning vocational training program for at-risk young adults. Works employ dance to inform, heal, transform, build community and inspire action, with excerpts from SpectorDance performances including 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), and Wildfires (celebrating Indigenous knowledge sustaining healthy forests).
Colleen Bailey, former Executive Director of the National Steinbeck Center, described Fran Spector Atkins’s work as intelligent and creative, and stated that Fran is exceptionally successful at blending artistry and scholarship, often drawing inspiration from the landscapes and people of Monterey County while exploring complex issues such as social justice and coming of age in a violent world. Paulette Lynch, former Executive Director of the Arts Council for Monterey County, described Fran Spector Atkins as a “tour de force” in the community and throughout the country, and characterized her work as gorgeous, daring, innovative, and powerful.
Last updated July 4, 2026.
SpectorDance’s mission is to “Create and Present Dance That Makes A Difference,” and its vision is “A world where everyone can be connected, informed, and inspired through the beauty and power of dance.” The Artistic Director and Founder, Fran Spector Atkins, is the lead artist and has collaborated with William Roden, a nationally recognized media artist, for over 25 years. Each project is based on extensive research and interviews with experts in the field, and innovative engagement programs that bring dance, artistry, and education to the community are associated with each project. Past collaborators include the Monterey Aquarium Research Institute and Rancho Cielo, an award-winning vocational training program for at-risk young adults. Works employ dance to inform, heal, transform, build community and inspire action, with excerpts from SpectorDance performances including 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), and Wildfires (celebrating Indigenous knowledge sustaining healthy forests).
Colleen Bailey, former Executive Director of the National Steinbeck Center, described Fran Spector Atkins’s work as intelligent and creative, and stated that Fran is exceptionally successful at blending artistry and scholarship, often drawing inspiration from the landscapes and people of Monterey County while exploring complex issues such as social justice and coming of age in a violent world. Paulette Lynch, former Executive Director of the Arts Council for Monterey County, described Fran Spector Atkins as a “tour de force” in the community and throughout the country, and characterized her work as gorgeous, daring, innovative, and powerful.
Last updated July 4, 2026.
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