Finishing off its first year downtown, Ecclesia School of the Arts will present “Hiding Place,” an original ballet based on the life of World War II heroine Corrie ten Boom, this weekend.

Ecclesia Dance Company began in 2009 at a home-school co-op in Lynchburg, founder and director Megan Horst says. Over the years, the company continued to grow, according to its website, adding a junior company in 2015 and preparatory program a year later.

In 2017, Ecclesia became an LLC, began renting space from Court Street United Methodist on Church Street and expanded its programs to include other artistic disciplines, like music, photography and acting, thereby becoming Ecclesia School of the Arts.

A few of these programs have been brought together in “Hiding Place,” says Horst, who also wrote the ballet.

After the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, ten Boom, then 48, and her older sister Betsie, like other members of their family who became involved in the resistance, began hiding Jews inside their homes.

Four years later, on Feb. 28, 1944, she and other members of her family were arrested. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s holocaust encyclopedia, the six Jews and resistance workers hidden inside their house at the time of the raid remained undiscovered and were eventually moved to another location.

Ten Boom and her sister were kept in a prison and eventually transferred to Ravensbrück, the largest concentration camp for women, where more than 100,000 would be incarcerated and where Betsie eventually died days before ten Boom’s release.

After returning to the Netherlands, ten Boom set up a rehabilitation center for post-war refugees and became a prolific writer and speaker, visiting more than 60 countries. In 1967, the State of Israel recognized ten Boom for saving an estimated 800 Jews.

Despite the horrors she experienced, ten Boom never lost faith.

“In darkness God’s truth shines most clear,” she wrote in her 1971 autobiography, “The Hiding Place,” which went on to sell more than two million copies.

Horst first learned about ten Boom through her mother, who heard her speak as a child. Growing up, she says, she read “Hiding Place,” and, years later, was inspired to turn the triumphant story into an artistic piece.

“I’ve always loved Corrie ten Boom, her writings, her sermons, everything.” Horst says. “Her story is just amazing; I’ve always been really moved by her story. [There was] so much pain and suffering, but so much faith in the Lord through all that.”

The performance, which takes its name from ten Boom’s book, is not your typical ballet, says Horst. It includes a variety of dance styles, such as pointe, tap and lyrical movement, set to a score that includes Vivaldi, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, John Williams and Lady Antebellum singer Hillary Scott, as well as a song performed by Ecclesia’s choir.

The ballet also features minimal narration to guide the audience through the events unfolding onstage, but the majority of ten Boom’s story is told through the arts.

“It’s such a powerful message,” Horst says. “It’s really neat how it’s come together through dance and music.”