do the damn thing girl

January 25, 2021 11:40 PM

Nia Dennis - 2021 Floor Exercise (1-23-21) "This routine definitely reflects everything that I am today as a woman," Dennis says in a press conference after the meet. "And of course I had to incorporate a lot of parts of my culture. I wanted to give a tribute to my father, he was Greek, he was in fraternities and stepping is really big so I wanted to incorporate that. I wanted to have a dance party because that’s my personality and of course I had to shout out LA because we out here, UCLA."

From The Guardian

Billboard, with some celebrity reactions

LA Daily News with a more newsy story about the meet

Popsugar's coverage (says she raised her fist at one point, but I can't see it in the video)

Full 2021 meet

Dennis in 2020 (minimal commentary). From the LA Times on the 2020 routine: "Dennis’ most popular floor routine was her most personal. Inspired by a family tradition of attending the Bayou Classic Battle of the Bands, an annual event in New Orleans featuring historically black universities Southern and Grambling State, Dennis portrays a majorette in the routine."

Dennis in 2019 (with commentary)

Dennis in 2018 (with commentary)

(Title is from Simone Biles' tweet)

posted by Gorgik (13 comments total)

WOW
posted by kinnakeet at 12:09 AM on January 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Dennis raises her fist at 31 seconds! I love the all dancing, all happy, occasionally concerned (here comes that double flip) supportive teammate action on the sidelines. They are all having a lot of fun!
posted by chavenet at 1:29 AM on January 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

The infuriating thing here is that Dennis will be denied the ability to parley this exposure into something more substantial thanks to the NCAA, like what happened with Katelyn Ohashi when her routine went viral.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:21 AM on January 26, 2021 [5 favorites]

That's so cool, and i have to admit, my eye was also caught by the cardboard standees in the seats. I keep thinking this year should be the breakthrough for a mass solution on the audio side, because a performance like that deserves the kind of applause that brings the roof down.
posted by cendawanita at 2:40 AM on January 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

That was awesome.
posted by Mchelly at 8:49 AM on January 26, 2021

College gymnastics looks so much cooler than the Olympic variety. Teammates cheering and dancing along! Dynamic, expressive, performance! Actual fun!
posted by that's candlepin at 9:44 AM on January 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

Oh, this is delightful. I hadn't even really ever thought about NCAA gymnastics (as opposed to Olympic, because I know basically nothing about gymnastics other than what I see in highlights every four years) until someone shared about Katelyn Ohashi here, and the UCLA team just seems to have SUCH A BLAST in all the videos I've seen of them. I hope they really are, and it's not just for show. Olympic gymnastics always seems so grim, although I guess everyone at the Olympics in every sport is kind of grim and miserable-looking from all the focus and effort.

My idea of personal athletic achievement is not tripping on my way down the stairs so I always kind of hope that the humans who can do Cool Human Tricks actually enjoy them.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 10:33 AM on January 26, 2021

This is great. The raised fist at :31, and does she throw up Westside W's at around 1:18?
posted by box at 10:56 AM on January 26, 2021

Olympic gymnastics always seems so grim, although I guess everyone at the Olympics in every sport is kind of grim and miserable-looking from all the focus and effort.

I wonder if part of it is that the general viewing public only really sees Olympic gymnasts when they're taking part in competitions that basically are going to define their careers. If you've been training for something since you were four, and how you do in that thing is going to determine whether you get your face on a Wheaties box or go down in history as a big disappointment, then you're not going to see very joyful. Whereas no one NCAA competition is that big a deal. They can have more fun, because the stakes aren't quite so brutally high.

But yeah, NCAA gymnastics tournaments are a blast, and I highly recommend going to one if you ever get the chance.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 11:01 AM on January 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

and does she throw up Westside W's at around 1:18?

I wondered what that was, and she does it in the post-meet conference, while saying "fours up". Turns out it's a UCLA thing
posted by Gorgik at 11:12 AM on January 26, 2021

And thanks to those that pointed out the fist.
posted by Gorgik at 11:12 AM on January 26, 2021

That was super fun!
posted by kathrynm at 5:37 PM on January 26, 2021

That was so awesome. I loved seeing the teammates? coaches? dancing and cheering on the sidelines.
posted by rogerroger at 8:11 PM on January 26, 2021 [1 favorite]