Viral again, Nia Dennis takes plaudits for ‘Black excellence’ gymnastics routine
The routine set to Missy Elliott, Soulja Boy, Tupac and others has more than 8.6 million views on Twitter and received praise from Simone Biles, Missy, and Michelle Obama.
Artistic Gymnastics
University of California-Los Angeles senior Nia Dennis has done it again. A season after the Ohio-native first went viral for her Beyonce inspired gymnastics routine, Dennis is once again captivating the internet with an upbeat floor exercise performance.
The routine celebrates Black excellence and features the music of Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Missy Elliott, Soulja Boy, Tupac Shakur, and Megan Thee Stallion.
Within the first 48 hours of posting on social media by the UCLA gymnastics team, the video had 8.6 million views.
"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," said Dennis, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
"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." She added.
That dance party caught the eye of some pretty famous people, including four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles.
“okay @DennisNia do the damn thing girl 🔥 this was so fun to watch! keep killing it!” Biles tweeted Sunday.
Dennis was on the U.S. senior women’s national team with Biles for the 2015-16 season.
Biles’ fellow Olympic gold medallist Laurie Hernandez was also effusive in her praise of Dennis’ routine.
“YOU BETTER WORK SISSS,” Hernandez said on Twitter.
Outside the sport, Elliot also added her approval on Twitter, saying "Snappin”, which the gymnast loved receiving.
And former First Lady Michelle Obama also shared her praise, calling Dennis a star.