UCLA Athletics, Jan 24, 2021
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on the floor routine that UCLA Gymnast Nia Dennis performed on 1/21/2021 during a gymnastic competition with Arizona State University.
This post presents excerpts from online articles and a sample of online comments and tweets that indicate that Nia Dennis' 1/21/2021 floor routine was "a celebration of Black excellence" or "an ode to Black culture" or are written in response to questions about the appropriatness of using the qualifier "black" in a description of that floor routine.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/01/examples-of-african-american-vernacular.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post documents some online comments and tweets about UCLA gymnast Nia Dennis' 1/21/2021 floor routine that include African American Vernacular English terms and sayings.
The content of this post is presented for sociocultural and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Nia Dennis for her awesome floor routine and thanks to the UCLA athletic team. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
ARTICLE EXCERPTS & EXAMPLES FROM ONE ARTICLE'S COMMENT SECTION
Excerpt #1
From https://www.today.com/news/ucla-gymnast-nia-dennis-celebrates-black-excellence-viral-routine-t206821?cid=sm_npd_td_tw_ma "UCLA gymnast Nia Dennis celebrates 'Black excellence' in viral routine"
The Bruins gymnast has earned high praise from champ Simone
Biles and other notable names.
Jan. 25, 2021, 10:13 AM EST / Source: TODAY; By Ree Hines
"UCLA Gymnastics scored a major victory over the weekend with
a season-opening win against Arizona State that included a floor routine from
Nia Dennis that went viral. The Bruins star was nearly flawless in her routine
celebrating "Black Excellence," scoring a 9.95 out of 10.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News, Dennis said the routine was as much
a mission statement as it was a reflection of those who came before. "This
routine definitely reflects everything that I am today as a woman and of course
I had to incorporate a lot of parts of my culture," Dennis told the
newspaper.
The routine, which ran just over a minute and half long,
showcased her prowess on the mat and effervescent style — filled with stepping,
dance and a nearly ever-present smile. It was all set to a mashup of music by
Black artists, including Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Missy Elliott."...
****
Excerpt #2
From https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nia-dennis-ucla-gymnast-black-culture_n_600ed6acc5b6fe97669e50ea "UCLA Gymnast Nia Dennis’ Viral Floor Routine Was An Ode To
Black Culture"
“I had to... for the culture,” the college senior wrote
about her electric performance.
By Kimberley Richards
"UCLA gymnast Nia Dennis celebrated Black culture in a floor
routine performance over the weekend that has the internet doing flips.
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.”…
-snip-
Here are some comments from this article. All of these comments are from Jan. 26, 2021 and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
1. bark mayglen
"what is reaction if a white gymnast performed to white culture music? like country/western or nickelback? shame or cheers?"
**
Reply
2. bark mayglen
"Country/western? Nah, let's go with Metal, Punk, or let's go with Polka or Folk. How about Jazz? Do you at all see the issue? As the dominant culture, white people haven't had to have a specific "culture music" because they could claim anything that was mainstream, or just anything. So when it bothers someone like you that a minority group honors music that was important to them culturally during very difficult periods, this is what we call White Privilege and bigotry."
**
3. draco Blanc
"I must have missed something...all I see is a talented young
lady executing a dance routine flawlessly (as far as my untrained eye can
tell).
What precisely was "black culture" in this?
Reply
Sarah Barns
"
The fact that she performed to Black music and did Black
dance moves unapologetically and was given the accolades she deserved is a big
leap forward.”
****
Excerpt #3
UCLA gymnast Nia Dennis wows with floor routine ft. music
from Kendrick, Beyonce, 2 Pac, et al.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB79emH0Ca0&ab_channel=StarrCards
Starr Card, Jan. 25, 2021
[comments from this video's discussion thread]
1. michael mcgovern, January 25, 2021
"If this routine had been presented on The Masked Dancer, no
one would have known if the gymnast's racial heritage was African, Asian,
European or any other. The excellence is astounding, but this is no more
"black" excellence than Mary Lou Retton's achievements are
"white" excellence or Greg Loganis' "gay" excellence. I'm
hearing echoes of Adolph Hitler cheerleading his people into believing in
their racial supremacy."
**
Reply
Liné Donnelly, January 25, 2021
"Really? No. The moves, dancing, all an ode to Black culture.
Nice try."
**
Reply
Me315, Jan. 26. 2021
"Damn! Let us have our excellence. Y’all don’t want us to have any excellence. We as a people
have been oppressed for so long, and continue to be. Mary Lou didn’t need any
white excellence..... because she was white. She was celebrated in all of her
whiteness. Let this sister celebrate her blackness. Excellence on full on
display. In a world that told black girls they couldn’t achieve in a
predominantly white sport. She’s here to show all the other black girls coming
up behind her. You can excel and still be who you are, culture on display....
unapologetically black. Respect it. The world is changing. So sick of white
folks who are so hell bent on believing in their supremacy. It’s all a farce,
wake up! Black excellence is here to stay!!!! Representation matters! We
matter! Black Lives Matter! ✊🏿"
****
EXAMPLES OF TWEETS ON THIS SUBJECT
All of these tweets are from Jan 24 and Jan 25, 2021 . Information about who these tweets are in reply to has been deleted because of space concerns.
From https://twitter.com/uclagymnastics/status/1353398409038680065
@uclagymnastics
Jan 24
This is what #blackexcellence looks like.
@DennisNia
does it again! 🔥
**
UCLA Gymnastics Retweeted
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt
@NBCNightlyNews
[Jan 25, 2021]·
Coming up:
@LesterHoltNBC
speaks with UCLA
gymnast Nia Dennis about her viral floor routine: https://on.today.com/3iMA1Kp
****
"Samuli Glöersen"
@SamuliGloersen
Jan 24
Amazing!
Think how great it would've been if she was not black but
just excellent!
**
Matt Archbold
@archbold23
Jan 24
Wait. You think it
would be great if she wasn’t black? Bold
thing to publicly disclose.
**
"Samuli Glöersen"
@SamuliGloersen
Jan 24
It would be great if she was not called black.
**
Matt Archbold
@archbold23
Jan 24
Better, but I think you’re missing the point. Were you watching the routine? She’s mixing cultural dance with cultural music. Just as a hint, she wasn’t river dancing.
Professor
@HighlandReach
Jan 24
It explains a lot that a person wouldn't default to
differentiating people by their race for the purpose of applauding them? It
wouldn't seem strange if someone danced to a Celtic song and it was applauded
as "White Excellence" as opposed to just excellence?
**
Matt Archbold
@archbold23
Jan 24
What? You undermine
yourself. You’d say “great representation of Celtic heritage.” This is no different. Would you rather “African Excellence?”
**
Professor
@HighlandReach
Jan 24
No. My point is that we don't use those modifiers because
it's "excellence".
My point it seems odd to separate her or anyone by race. Reread my comment. It's not encouragement to use a modifier. It's just the opposite. She's excellent.
**
Sonicsfan10
@sonicsfan10
Jan 24
What if a white gymnast did this amazing routine? I think labeling it whiteexcellence would be a very bad idea.
**
KNemo
@knemoX79
Jan 24
Come on dude. I checked out your profile and your retweets
would seem to indicate that you get this. White gymnasts have always been on a
pedestal and at the top of the podium. Elite gymnastics is expensive AF, and
the Simone Biles’ of the sport are rare at the nat’l level still.
**
KNemo
@knemoX79
Jan 24
The other problem with “White excellence” is that whites
have been telling themselves that they are excellent for centuries, while
oppressing and owning people of color. Black excellence needs to be witnessed
and celebrated. All day, every day.
**
Reggie Nepomuceno
@meepdog
Jan 24
I think the answer to some of the questions or derision in the comments is that we get so much more excellence when people are more freely expressing themselves, rather than strictly having to fit within some artificial and arbitrary norm.
**
peachyKING1911
@AfreyaKing
Exactly! For so long we were forced to conform & not be
able to express our culture. For too long we've been forced to conform. It's
refreshing to see her do that routine unashamedly, dance & music!!
****
This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.
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