Physics: The Key to Being a Better Dancer Sarah Hidayat

In eleventh grade, I remember sitting in Physics baffled that there were formulas to make sense of the world. Before this course, I had simply accepted that gravity made things fall to the ground and pushing objects would make them move. However, dabbling in the why behind all of this awakened this insatiable curiosity that still burns in me today.

That first day in Physics helped me realize that I was on a constant hunt for explanations. As I progressed through each chapter of the course, I was able to satisfy this craving for knowledge for a while, until a seemingly mundane movement triggered another question that could be answered through physics. This constant applicability to everyday events was a huge draw, as was the importance of math, a strong suit of mine, to physics problems. For once, I didn’t feel like I was memorizing information that would leave my brain after an exam. Rather, I was able to consistently apply the information to everything around me.

The greatest take away from Physics, however, was the improvement in my dance skills. Now that I knew all these rules of the universe, I could apply them to make myself a superior dancer. I was able to apply Newton’s Law of Motion that every action has an equal and...