Dot dancer has role in new work on Holocaust survivors

Dorchester dancer Gabriela Amy-Moreno is preparing for her in the new work “Hidden” by Boston-based artist Rachel Linsky. Nicole Volpe photo

Dance artist Rachel Linsky is debuting her new work, “Hidden,” the latest in her ongoing choreographic series that aims to preserves stories of WWII Holocaust survivors through dance, at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Black Box Theater in the South End. Three performances are scheduled: Thurs., Oct. 20, and Fri., Oct 21, at 7 p.m., and Sat., Oct. 22,at 6 p.m.

Dorchester dancer Gabriela Amy-Moreno is one of five dance artists in the performance. She said part of Linsky’s process has the performers doing research on some of the history of the material, in this case the Holocaust.

“Hidden” is inspired by the story of Elster, who at 10 years old was hidden from the Nazis for two years in a Polish family’s attic. As an adult, Elster returned to the attic space and gained an appreciative perspective for a situation that, to his younger self, felt like punishment. He died in 2018 but left a remarkable record of his life that influenced and inspired Boston-based Linsky. She and her dancers are working with Elster’s son Steven to keep his father’s testimony alive.

“I feel very proud to know and work with Rachel,” said Amy-Moreno. “She knows what she wants, even if she’s still figuring out what that exactly means. In every rehearsal you can tell how thoughtful she is about what needs to be done in order to push the vision forward. Rachel has also been very accommodating of the dancers’ well-being: injury and loss.”


Subscribe to the Dorchester Reporter