​About ZACHOR:

ZACHOR is an ongoing project series directed and choreographed by Rachel Linsky, which seeks to preserve the words of WWII Holocaust Survivors through dance. Through performances and community workshops we foster dialogue across diverse groups about the significance of studying these testimonies today and understanding how we can apply survivor’s lessons to contemporary social-political issues.

Projects:

Inspired by Weinberg

Through the Jewish Arts Collaborative and Combined Jewish Philanthropies Community Creative Fellowship, I embarked on the next project within ZACHOR inspired by the work and story of Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Weinberg was a Jewish-Polish composer born in 1919. He grew up in Warsaw learning to play music with his father’s Yiddish theater group. At 20 years old, when the Nazis invaded, Weinberg fled eastwards and was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. He spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union creating brilliant classical compositions with clear Jewish and Klezmer themes. With his work, he kept alive a whole world of the family and culture that he had lost. On account of antisemitism in the Soviet Union, his work with these Jewish themes received heavy pushback, preventing it from ever reaching the level of global recognition that it should have had in his lifetime.

​When I first heard Weinberg’s work, I knew immediately that I wanted to create something to it. I felt the best way to honor his artistry and to perhaps restore a small piece of deserved legacy to his name would be to create contemporary dance that brought out the same Jewish and Klezmer influences that he kept alive in his music. You can watch my capstone project dance film "Z"L" below: 
In the summer of 2023, I continued my research on Weinberg through ZACHOR’s 2023 Teen Intensive, a program made possible by the generous support of The Beker Foundation. Throughout this free, week-long summer program, the cohort of students worked collaboratively to build choreography for dance film based on their research, discussions and reflections. The students chose to bring to life Movement II of Weinberg’s Cello Concertino. Learn more about watch their film, "Forgotten Flame" here: 

Learn more about Rachel's work as one of the Community Creative Fellows: 

Kick-off Interview with Laura Mandel:
Mini Vlog Series: 
This project has inspired a new branch of our work, continuing to develop this fusion of Yiddish and contemporary dance styles, and to share that with our larger community. You can learn more about our Klezmer Collaborations project here: 

Hidden

In addition to ZACHOR’s cast of professional dancers, Hidden features a cohort of teenage dancers who participated in a free, week-long “Embodied Holocaust Education” workshop through ZACHOR. Throughout the week students took classes in contemporary technique and improvisation and discussed Holocaust survivor Aaron Elster’s memoir as well as the importance of keeping these testimonies alive today. They then worked collaboratively to build a 5-minute piece of choreography inspired by Aaron’s story and their reflections, that serves as the ending to this work.
Uncovering, presented in February of 2021 was a community workshop series with undergraduate and recent graduate performing arts students (theater and dance) that launched our research into Aaron Elster's story for Hidden. Uncovering was a virtual presentation of short solos inspired by memories from Aaron's testimony that most resonated with the workshop participants. This workshop series was critical in shaping ZACHOR's collaborative creative process and developing a method to embody and engage critically while studying these important testimonies. ​
Hidden is the culmination of a multi-faceted research project that has included multiple community workshops, dance film, and now live performance. This evening-length contemporary dance work is inspired by the story of Holocaust survivor Aaron Elster, who survived at the mercy of a Polish family who kept him hidden in their attic for two years. Hidden has been developed through a highly collaborative creative process geared towards creating a resonant and embodied Holocaust education experience for the artists involved in the work. This piece tackles the pressing question of what the future of Holocaust education might look like, especially in this pivotal time where so few survivors are left to tell their stories first-hand. CLICK HERE to see a compilation of clips from the live performance.
 Hidden premiered as a dance film in September of 2021. The choreography in the film served as a launching point to be developed further into our live performance. The film was created in residence at Chelsea Theatre Works with videography by Olivia Moon Photography.
Hidden premiered live at the Boston Center for the Arts in October of 2022 and is now ready to be shared further with more communities!  The development of this was was supported by Combined Jewish Philanthropies Arts & Culture Community Impact Grant Fund, The Beker Foundation, The City of Boston Opportunity Fund, The Russell J. Efros Foundation, and by New Work New England of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Seedlings Foundation, the Fund for the Arts at NEFA, the American Rescue Plan, Anonymous Foundation, and from individual donors.

"Schulhoff"



​This contemporary dance work seeks to revive and honor the music of Erwin Schulhoff, a Jewish composer and Holocaust victim. A radical and innovative artist of his time, Schulhoff was one of the first European musicians to incorporate jazz into classical music forms such as symphonies and concertos. The Nazis deemed jazz and all forms of modern art a threat to their ideology and sought to completely erase from history the work of Schulhoff and many other artistic trailblazers. This performance celebrates the survival and legacy of Schulhoff’s music while investigating the Nazis' ban on art forms that embraced freedom of expression and created pathways to share new ideas, voices, and perspectives.

Thank you to all who came out to see Schulhoff performed at The W-Gallery, New England Conservatory, and through CURE8 Cambridge at The Dance Complex! If you missed it, check out the digital version of Schulhoff complete with digital research boards and performance recording HERE.

"Selection"

“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
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.
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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. 

"Do I Want to Remember?"

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Do I Want to Remember is a Contemporary Dance piece utilizing words of Holocaust Survivor, 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.