Set in Motion takes as its point of departure Newton’s first law of motion: an object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force.

This work from Figure of 8 Dance Theatre takes this scientific law and applies it to human experience. Dancers are in a constant state of motion. Visual patterns ebb and flow; movement is at times staccato, at times repetitive, sometimes eruptive, but always bound by the certainty of constant motion, suggesting a restlessness in the human spirit that is never satisfied.

Dancers use swathes of fabric that represent how we connect, entangle, snare, bind, and caress not only each other but our own individual desires which in turn become the catalysts for treading new paths. The twists of fabric that surround the performance space echo the thematic thread, suggesting helixes, ghosts, shields, sails and surfaces from which to rebound. And motion like a tidal pool, rises and subsides across the stage as dancers constantly appear and retreat in groups, pairs, singly, supported, entangled, quiet, turbulent, and ever moving.