SpectorDance recently announced its 2nd Virtual Choreographers Showcase on Saturday, March 27 at 7:30 PM (PST) and Sunday, March 28 at 3 PM (PST) featuring works by eight uniquely different dance artists. SpectorDance was Founded in 1997 by Artistic Director Fran Spector Atkins with the mission to “provide excellence in dance training and performance” as well as to introduce artists from different disciplines for collaboration. SpectorDance has a school, a company and features several other programs. Its primary focus is contemporary dance that integrates music, spoken word and visual technology, and that focuses on social issues.
The program will feature a diverse list of dance works by eight different choreographers from around the country. They include Sandra Scheuber (Alameda, CA.), Becky Robinson-Leviton (Pomona, CA.), Cesar R Degollado (Tucson, AZ.), Fran Spector Atkins (Monterey, CA.), Margaret Wingrove (San Jose, CA.), Danah Bella (Baltimore, MD.), Claire and Celia Rammel (Carmel, CA.), and Sarah McCormick (Martin, TN.)
There will be an introduction from each choreographer explaining why they created the work they are presenting, and also there will be a post-performance Zoom conversation with the choreographers.
Celia and Claire Rammel in “Unsteady” – Artists Simply Human by Eve Nys Photography
Fran Spector Atkins began her professional career in New York City, where she performed with the Incredible Journey Dance Company and the Mariko Sanjo Dance Company. Atkins has, however, worked as an independent teacher and choreographer and directed studios in NYC, Cleveland, and Monterey since 1977, guest teaching and presenting her choreography at Oberlin College, Brown University, at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, and in Denmark, Egypt, England, Israel, the Island of Guam, Taiwan, and Italy.
Sandra Scheuber is a freelance choreographer, and has set works on high school, college, and semi-professional dance companies in the bay area, central valley, and beyond. She has performed in the SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, the Central Coast, and the Central Valley. Scheuber was invited to dance in José Limón’s “The Winged” and “Missa Brevis” with sjDANCEco in San Jose and currently performs with and choreographs for NewGround Theatre Dance Company and previously with Off-Balance Dance Company, One Performing Arts, Contemporary Dance Collective, and Central Coast Contemporary Dance.
Becky Robinson-Leviton is an Izzie-nominated contemporary dance artist, professional choreographer, teacher, and arts administrator who has performed throughout California and in Germany. She has presented work at the Tiny Dance Film Festival (2018), DanceBarn Screendance Festival (2018), and SpectorDance’s Virtual Choreographers Showcase (2021), and am the founder and co-artistic director of the dance-theater duo, the Phenomenal Anomalies with Hannah Westbrook.
César Rubio Degollado, a native of Mexico, has worked as a dancer with well-known choreographers and has done world renowned choreography by George Balanchine, Anthony Tudor, Paul Taylor and Ben Stevenson. He worked with Ballet Tucson for seventeen seasons where his credits as a dancer involved principal, soloist and corps de ballet roles. Degollado’s choreography has been performed by Ballet Tucson, The University of Arizona School of Dance, A Tucson Dance Company, Southern Arizona Dance Theatre, Tucson Metropolitan Dance Company, all in Arizona. Degollado has founded ConDanza, a Contemporary Repertoire Company and a Community Outreach Project that originated in Stockholm, Sweden, officially moving operations to Tucson, AZ in 2009.
Margaret Wingrove is the Artistic Director of the Margaret Wingrove Dance Company founded in 1981. She has created over 80 works for her company as well as commissioned to create works on other dance companies that include Palo Alto Ballet, Berkeley Ballet, San Jose Dance Theater, Janlyn Dance Company, and dancers from the San Francisco Ballet and the San Jose Cleveland Ballet. Wingrove has performed and studied extensively on both the east and west coasts with modern dancers Paul Sanasardo, Norman Walker, Lucas Hoving, and Richard Gibson. She also trained at the San Francisco Ballet School.
Margaret Wingrove Dance Company in “Language of Fire” – Photo by Dave Lepori
Danah Bella is the artistic director of danahbella Dance Works. She has performed and presented her work through the country including the Cool New York Festival in New York, the United States Asian American Festival in San Francisco, the Bates Dance Festival in Maine, the American College Dance Association’s National Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center, ReVIEWING Black Mountain College international conference in Asheville, N.C., as well as in Mexico and Italy. Bella is a professor and Chair of Dance at John Hopkins Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD.
As young dance artists, Celia Rammel is a high school sophomore who has initiated a costume collection business to offer to low income youth and Claire Rammel is in college. They are just beginning their dance careers.
Sarah McCormick received her BA in World Arts & Culture from UCLA and her MFA from SUNY Brockport. She is currently Associate Professor of Dance in the Department of Visual & Theatre Arts at The University of Tennessee at Martin (2008-present) where she is the Director of the Dance Ensemble. Her choreography embodies a World-dance approach, as she combines her intensive Western modern dance-theater training with her explorations in Indian, Balinese, Japanese, and African movements. She has studied with Lynn Dally, Fred Strickler, Gary Bates, Jeff Slayton, Irina Kosmovska and Mia Slavenska. McCormick was also a member of Ferne Ackerman/Big Flood from 1984-1987, and a member of Dance Diner 1987-1988.
#####
WHAT: SpectorDance’s 2nd Virtual Choreographers Showcase
WHEN: Saturday, March 27 at 7:30 pm & Sunday, March 28 at 3 pm
Suggested Ticket Donation – $20 Adults, $15 Senior/Child/Military or Pay What You Can $5 to $10
You will receive a performance link two hours prior to the event.
For information about tickets, click HERE – Or email franspector5@gmail.com
To visit the SpectorDance website, click HERE.
By Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: danahbella Dance Works – Photo by Stephen Sherrill
