About ZACHOR:
ZACHOR is an ongoing project series that seeks to preserve the words and eternalize the stories of WWII Holocaust Survivors through dance. ZACHOR aims to educate diverse groups of artists and audiences on the millions persecuted and killed under the Nazi Regime due to their religion, ethnicity, sexuality, and political beliefs. With this work, I strive to open up conversations across communities, build empathy, and uncover the importance of continuing to study these histories today. This project has received generous funding from Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the City of Boston Opportunity Fund, and the Russell J. Efros Foundation.
Join me and the collaborating artists of ZACHOR on September 12th at 5:30 pm EST for the Zoom premiere of “Hidden”, a dance film inspired by the story of Holocaust Survivor Aaron Elster. The film premiere will be followed by a Q&A session between audience members, artists, and Aaron’s son Steven Elster. This project was filmed in residence at Chelsea Theatre Works and made possible by a generous grant from Russell J. Efros Foundation. The virtual premiere is free and open to the public! If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation to ZACHOR in place of ticket costs you can do so HERE. All donations will go towards the continuation of ZACHOR and my efforts to further develop this dance film into a live, evening-length performance for the Spring of 2022! RSVP below to receive the Zoom link and password for this virtual event.
"Uncovering"Uncovering is a virtual presentation of short solos choreographed through ZACHOR's pilot community workshop series. This workshop series launched my research into both the story of Holocaust Survivor Aaron Elster and into developing a highly collaborative creative process for ZACHOR. Through a guided post-show Q&A, dancers articulate their experience participating in this research, discussion, and creation based workshop series. The research presentation was held on Zoom in February of 2021. If you missed this presentation you can watch the dances and discussion using the link below!
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"Do I Want to Remember?"Do I Want to Remember is a Contemporary Dance piece utilizing words of Holocaust Survivors, Alexander Kimel. This work premiered as part of Yom Hashoah programming at Elon University in North Carolina and was presented at the Huntington Avenue Theatre as part of Boston Contemporary Dance Festival in 2019.
Jewish Advocate Interview |
"Selection"Selection, is a site-specific dance filmed at New England Holocaust Memorial. Since its premiere in Fall 2020, Selection has been chosen as a Finalist at the Prague International Monthly Film Festival, and presented in Nozama’s virtual Empower one Another festival, Athen's International Monthly Film Festival, Collective Exchange’s FRAMES festival, Mostra Internacional de Dança Imagens 2020, Earl Mosely's Diversity of Dance inaugural Dance is Activism Film Festival, and the Boston Center for the Arts' Dance Documentation in Isolation Series.
Selection was choreographed and directed by Rachel Linsky, and filmed and edited by Olivia Moon Photography. The Choreography for Selection was created using the words of Bernard Marks and memories and images of Agi Geva and Elie Wiesel on the selection process in Nazi concentration camps. |
“Dancing in this work at a memorial site was such a loaded, humbling experience that was not taken lightly. Rachel Linsky took such care developing this very personal and haunting work. The piece is rooted in family history, research, text and imagery from primary accounts of Holocaust Survivors, and a speech made by a survivor tying the breaking of his community to what is happening in the US with ICE and immigrant families. We all approached this as art that interacted with the memorial - calling attention to its intention of remembrance, and honoring stories through movement and embodiment”. - Erin McNulty, Dancer in ZACHOR
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