Rachel Linsky 
Director & Choreographer

Rachel Linsky is a Boston-based contemporary dance artist and the Director of ZACHOR Dance Projects, a company rooted in historical research, cultural preservation, and intergenerational responsibility. For the past 6 years Rachel has created works preserving Holocaust survivor testimony through dance, and in the past 3 years she has also been choreographing for klezmer music, weaving elements of Yiddish folk dance into her contemporary practice.

Rachel has presented work at venues throughout Boston including the Boston Center for the Arts, the New England Conservatory, The Huntington Theater, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston University, TedX Walden Pond, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has given guest workshops and lectures at universities such as Tufts University and Brandeis University, and has presented dance film work in national and international festivals such as Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance “Dance is Activism Film Festival '', Prague International Film Festival, and many more. 
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​Rachel was one of the 2022-23 JArts and CJP Community Creative Fellows, a member of the 2023-24 Next Steps for Boston Dance cohort, and was recently awarded a fellowship through the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for the 2025-26 season. Her choreographic work has been awarded funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts, The City of Boston, The Russell J. Efros Foundation, The Beker Foundation, The Massachusetts Cultural Council, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and The Boston Foundation. In addition to her choreography, Rachel is a principal dancer with KAIROS Dance Theater and teaches workshops in Contemporary, Ballet and Yiddish dance throughout the Boston area.
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She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a B.A. in Arts Administration from Elon University where she graduated summa cum laude.

Gabriela Amy-Moreno
Dancer/Collaborator

Gabriela M. Amy-Moreno is a native of Boston, MA, where she currently is a freelancer. Coming from a family of flamenco dancers, she was introduced to dance at a young age. Gabriela began her early training at The West Roxbury School of Dance and Boston Arts Academy and then continued on to The University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she received her BFA in Contemporary Dance. 

Since 2019, Gabriela has been dancing for Rachel Linsky’s ZACHOR Dance Projects. Gabriela has also danced professionally with Boston Dance Theater (May 2019 - Dec 2021). During her time there she performed works by national and internationally acclaimed choreographers. While freelancing, she has had the opportunity to work with several local dance makers through project-based works. Those include Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion, Kristin Wagner/The Click, detritus dance, Continuum Dance Project, Cassie Wang, and Jo-Mé Dance Theatre.

Imani Deal ​
Dancer/Collaborator

Imani Deal was born and raised in the Greater Boston Area. Deal graduated from Montclair State University where she received a Bachelors of Fine Art in Dance and a minor in Business in 2019. During her training at MSU, she’s had the privilege of dancing in works by Camille A. Brown, Earl Mosley, and Charles Weidman. Deal maintained a position on the Dean’s List throughout college and is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She has attended Urbanity and EMIA dance intensives and has also interned for Urbanity Dance Company.
​Imani has been dancing with ZACHOR since 2020. She is also a dancer with Roots Uprising Dance Company, and has danced with Boston-based artist Jenny Oliver. Deal plans to open an Arts Center that gives back to the inner city through the arts while also expanding her dance journey through traveling. 

Aliza Franz​
Dancer/Collaborator

Aliza Franz is a Boston based dancer, educator, and arts manager. They graduated from Skidmore College in 2020, where they earned a double major in Psychology and Dance, with a minor in Gender Studies.

Aliza first started dancing with ZACHOR in 2022. Additionally, they have worked with artists and organizations including VLA Dance, Boston Lyric Opera, Lorraine Chapman The Company, Chavi Bansal and Ilya Vidrin, among others. Aliza has been an artist in residence at Bearnstow in Maine, and is currently in the creation process of a new work. 

They are a dance teacher who works with students ranging in age from 5-18 and have taught professional contemporary classes through VLA Dance. Aliza is an arts manager working for Zamana Art, a company that provides professional development through the lens of Art in Creativity. Aliza continues to seek and advocate for diversity in creative spaces.

Isabelle "Izzi" King 
​Dancer/Collaborator

Isabelle “Izzi” King (they/them) is a Boston-based queer and genderfluid dancer, choreographer, and educator. Their work lives in collaboration, performance, and community building across Boston’s contemporary dance landscape.
King performs as a freelance artist with choreographers including Eliza Malecki, Mira Goksel, Rachel Linsky, Joe Gonzalez, Dara Capley, Kelly Bartnik, Jenny Oliver, and Shura Baryshnikov. They joined Urbanity Dance following their graduation from Wheaton College (MA), where they earned a BA in Sociology with minors in Psychology and Dance.
Their choreographic work includes creating for Wheaton College’s dance company and musical theatre productions. King is an alum of the MIDDAY Movement Series Professional BIPOC Mentorship Program and now serves as Events & Community Coordinator, supporting artists and cultivating community within Boston’s dance ecosystem. 
@iisabelle.kingg

Leah Misano Abbott
​Dancer/Collaborator

Leah Misano Abbott is a multi-faceted artist currently focused on developing her own choreography and improvisation practice. Hailing from South Carolina, her early dance training focused on classical ballet at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities (2017). While completing her BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (2021), Leah shifted her practice drastically—learning movement based in release technique, capoeira, and street styles. In recent years, Leah Misano has continued to research and explore this melding of ideas from different genres within her own movement—curious about how ideas from one style can transform and inform movement from another. 
Leah Misano has a passion for creation and has served in many creation processes in different roles including as a dance artist, dance captain, and choreographic assistant. Leah Misano also serves as an assistant professor at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Her performance credits include Rauf “Rubberlegz” Yasit, Emilie Leriche, Nicole von Arx, Ilya Vidrin, and several others. Her recent projects include a commissioned site-specific work for the inaugural Cotuit Dance Festival in September 2024 and RAMBLIN’ for Boston Moving Arts’ show in October 2024. Misano was the recipient of the 2025 Boston Moving Arts’ Creative Residency during which she cultivated her creative practice and research into an evening-length solo that premiered in May 2026 under the title the body I gave it.  @leah.misano