The dance was commissioned by the Orkney International Science Festival in 2012 to celebrate the life of physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) who is best known for unifying the theories of electricity and magnetism and showing that light is an electromagnetic wave.

The comments on the <<https://youtu.be/WvhYB1Fmr80|youtube video>> give a lot more detail about him.

This is also <<https://www.scottishcountrydanceoftheday.com/daysoftheyear/maxwell's-waves|Scottish Country Dance of the Day>> for 13 June which was Maxwell's birthday.