Like a well-organized lecture, the piece is divided into sections, each with a different theme. As it opens, Freeman illustrates the confusion and panic of being in the world without knowing precisely how to react to the needs of the people around her. She looks at her hands, spins, breathes deeply, and stretches her limbs. Andrews chants, “what do you feel?” in loops of sound. Then comes the diagnosis, revealed in a projected page from Freeman’s medical file. Freeman emerges in a red jacket, looking vulnerable and overwhelmed. Subsequent sections of the work deal with the need to create detailed scripts to make sense of social situations, the compulsion to put things away in a precise order, repetitive actions, gender reversal, and the solace offered by nature. Here, Freeman rolls out a patch of green Astroturf and tumbles on it joyfully, finally released from her anxiety, while Andrews magically replicates birdsong. In a lovely whimsical touch, Freeman pulls on a rope, only to reveal three beautiful clouds made of what looks like paper.  (The often imaginative stage designs are by Rachel Hauck, who designed “Hadestown” on Broadway.)

The most touching and effective sections come just after this. In one, the doctor describes how Freeman’s grandmother taught her how to skip, using tissues to illustrate the rhythmic pulse and bounce required. Freeman stands under a lampshade, onto which videos of her grandmother hugging and encouraging her are projected. Then we learn the reasons for the show’s title. Apparently, in order to channel Freeman’s energies and the repetitious physical habits known as “stimming”, her parents put her in a dance class early on. The ritual of learning, repeating, and rehearsing movement was a kind of salve. Dance classes were on Thursdays.

This realization inspires the evening’s most effective dance, in which movements that suggest “stimming” behavior like walking on tiptoe or with flexed toes, locking joints, playing with fingers, biting the lip, become ingredients in a dance. Gradually, as if in a time-lapse video, these movements become increasingly stylized, evolving into more recognizable dance steps, until Freeman is spinning in attitude, stretching one leg out in a gorgeous and forceful arabesque, and moving her arms with control and power. Her movements are luscious, muscular, expansive. She is clearly an impressive dancer.