Yahoo Finance UCLA Gymnast Nia Dennis' Viral Floor Routine Was An Ode To Black Culture
UCLA gymnast Nia Dennis celebrated Black culture in a floor routine performance over the weekend that has the internet doing flips.
The senior’s celebrated routine from Saturday’s competition in Los Angeles kicked off with Kendrick Lamar’s song “Humble.” The rest of her routine featured a mashup of music by a number of Black artists, including Missy Elliott, Soulja Boy and Tupac.
Dennis’ electric floor exercise and dance, which earned her a score of 9.950 out of a possible 10, also included nods to California Black culture and to historically Black Greek-lettered sororities and fraternities.
Her routine clinched UCLA’s win over Arizona State University (196.150 - 195.950). She also won a vault event earlier in Saturday’s competition.
Dennis posted a clip of her floor routine on Instagram on Monday.
“I had to... for the culture,” she wrote, adding a shout-out to Black Greek-lettered organizations.
Clips of Dennis’ performance have drawn wide praise on Twitter, including an acknowledgment from Olympic champion gymnast Simone Biles, who tweeted: “Do the damn thing girl.”
“This was so fun to watch! Keep killing it!” Biles added.
This is what #blackexcellence looks like. @DennisNia does it again! 🔥
📹 @Pac12Network pic.twitter.com/2vxgyTvUCG— UCLA Gymnastics (@uclagymnastics) January 24, 2021
Saturday wasn’t the first time Dennis’ gymnastic skills garnered wide praise.
Last year, her lively floor routine featuring a compilation of Beyoncé songs made rounds on the internet, and even landed her an invitation to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
