A physics grad student waltzed away with the top prize in the 2026 Dance Your PhD contest.

Dance is the art of human movement. It combines motion and spin, energy and balance, synchronization and cadence. Many of these concepts are familiar to physicists—even those who might panic at the mere thought of being on a dance floor. Sofia Papa can give a lesson or two on the connections between physics and dance. A physics graduate student and professional dancer, Papa won the top prize this month in the annual Dance Your PhD contest, run by the journal Science. In the winning video, she and six other dancers mimic the internal workings of a piezoelectric, a type of material that turns atomic movement into electricity.

Papa has always loved dancing. “It was my first way to express myself,” she says. For several years now, she has complemented her physics education with dance training. While the dancing has served as a break from the rigors of studying, she has also used it as a way to work through difficult physical concepts. “I’ve always needed something creative to help understand complex ideas,” she says.