Ph.D. candidates are using interpretive dance to present their research.

“Dance your Ph.D.” is an annual contest that gives students a chance to turn abstract theory into a physical dance and their dissertations into a performance.

This year's winner was Nancy Scherich from UC Santa Barbara. She used aerial silk acrobatics and glowing hula hoops in order to turn twists and knots in high-dimensional spaces. Nancy studies topology, a subfield of geometry, that deals with the stretching and bending of space, which lent itself to a winning performance.