The committed producers, teachers and activists who give their time and talents to assure that the arts happen in smaller communities sometimes don’t think of themselves as artists. But they are motivated by a love for an art form, whether it’s music, theater, visual arts or dance. Fran Spector Atkins is one of the passionate ones, and the former CSU Monterey Bay teacher has helped local dance flourish to extraordinary levels of awareness with her Marina-based studio SpectorDance and the annual Monterey Dance Fest.

This year, the festival gains momentum as it celebrates its fifth anniversary. The Emerging Choreographers Showcase, just one part of the Monterey Dance Fest, features new talent from all over the nation and is a festival favorite. Dozens of applicants from around the world submitted proposals and 13 choreographers were chosen through a selective process.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for emerging artists at a critical time,” Spector Atkins says. “They have a forum to share new ideas and cutting-edge work.” She feels that the shows “help create passion within the community, and enable people who would typically travel to a city to see something like The Nutcracker to open themselves up to new things.”

She points out that many venues in small towns aren’t set up for such audiences.

“We’re lucky to be able to feature diverse, dynamic dancers that would be typically showcased in larger cities,” she says.

One artist, 23-year-old, first-year Smith College graduate student Tara Madsen, is coming to California for her very first time to be part of the Emerging Choreographers Showcase. “Here Then Gone,” a dramatic piece choreographed by Madsen, is set to the dreamy songs of Stuart Dempster. Featuring an enthusiastic young woman garbed in a flowing yellow and gold raw silk dress, the piece is inspired by the John Luddock quote, “What we see depends mainly on what we are looking for.”

The magical piece explores via hand gestures—reaching for a higher force, grabbing energies that eventually permeate the body, and releasing it in the end.

“When I perform this piece, it’s only me on stage, and only me the world—it’s as if no one else is watching,” Madsen says.

Madsen’s résumé, which features a year of remarkable big breaks, makes her something of a festival ringer. She’s already presented her work in New York City and up and down the East Coast, and was recently selected for The 28th International Choreographer’s Showcase in Spain. No doubt she’ll be performing for a packed audience wherever her dance shoes take her.

The dedication of community dance enthusiasts in our area also makes better dance in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles possible. It is the authentic passion for the art form that is essential. It creates an ecosystem that drives audience and performers—whether the performance is for the local community center or Radio City Music Hall—to experience the arts at all levels of accomplishment, professionalism and expertise.

The Emerging Choreographers Showcase is Saturday, May 21 at 8pm and Sunday, May 22 at 5pm at SpectorDance Performance Space, 3343 Paul Davis Dr., Marina. tickets are $10 in advance (purchased by May 20) and $15 at the door; call 384-1050 or www.spectordance.org. Subsidized Ticket Program on Friday, May 20 at 4:30pm for youth and seniors.