Nia Dennis received viral attention for two of her performances as a collegiate gymnast for the University of California at Los Angeles. But it was her most recent routine – done to a jumble of songs by influential black artists from Kendrick Lamar to Megan Thee Stallion and quickly called “#BlackExcellence” on social media – that struck so much by the 22-year-old. It’s a concept, Dennis tells Yahoo Life, born out of her own need to confirm her identity as a black woman.
“For a long time I wanted my skin color to be different. For a long time I wanted my hair to fall out and I did not want it to stay straight. For a long time I wanted the do not get on my legs, “she shares. “I did not even accept who I was, so it was so important for me to find out who I was as a woman so that I could not only see myself, but also that others could see me.”
This journey to self-love and acceptance got off to an important start for Dennis in 2016, when she had to tear up her Achilles and give up her dreams of becoming an Olympic gymnast. “I never wanted to do gymnastics again,” she recalls. “I never wanted to go back to the sport again.” But with a view to another life purpose – attending UCLA – Dennis eventually began working to build her self-confidence and, more importantly, explore who she really was.
“I honestly struggled to figure out who I was outside of gymnastics, and I just felt like gymnastics defined me. That’s all I did all my life, and I devoted so much time to it,” she says. ‘Then my team at UCLA gave me the space to grow as a woman and find out who I am and what I can offer and bring to the table. [And] further allowed me to express myself, to express my personality, to make it shine, to show and to remain true to myself, because that is what is most important. “
As a junior, he performs a floor routine to the sounds of Beyoncé Homecoming documentary, about her historic 2018 Coachella performance, Dennis quickly boasted on the internet and gained recognition from celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Gabrielle Union. Still, she had a turbulent break ahead of her final season in the team, when she recovered from shoulder surgery and took the Black Lives Matter movement into account during the summer.
“It was probably the greatest experience in progress that I became a woman,” Dennis said of the country’s response to racial injustice. “I just felt it all fell into place.”
After recognizing the February 2020 routine, the gymnast tried to make a bigger impact with a performance she titled “The Culture.” And on the internet, the routine was related to the hashtag #BlackExcellence.
“Black excellence is for me a celebration and a highlight of all that excellent people have done, in all categories – in sports and academia, in science and medicine, everything,” Dennis explains. “It’s not that we’re just bringing great things to the community. We excel in the things we do, so it’s just a celebration of it all.”
More so, it became a celebration for Dennis and everything she went through to be a successful black gymnast.
“The gymnastics community as a whole needs to nurture young black gymnasts because I’m always told I don’t have the look. I was powerful, I had more muscles, my muscles were more defined,” she explains of the growth. at the top of the sport. “It then means that I’m not skinny enough and spill out of my jersey, like always being fat, or whatever. I’m called very fat because of my muscles because I did not have the classic look. Or Whatever the gym community is so used to seeing. ‘
Although criticism of the sport is not new – as former Olympians Shawn Johnson, Aly Raisman and Simone Biles have all commented on the body image issues they have developed from gymnastics – Dennis hopes her out-of-the-box performance will be positive be. affect other constraints within the sport.
“We have to honestly nurture, embrace, uplift all gymnasts of all kinds, of all kinds, all backgrounds, all cultures, because we all have something different to bring to the table. Not all gymnasts have the same style,” says Dennis. “Gymnastics is fun and it should be fun, and we should be allowed in different ways to express our personality and let our personality shine through without feeling that we are wrong, or that we are pushing boundaries.”
Fortunately, Dennis now has the support of former first lady Michelle Obama.
“Now this is what I call angry!” Obama tweeted about Dennis’ routine. “You’re a star.”
Dennis calls her viral fame a “dream come true”, while admitting that she does feel pressured to still make a difference in her community and beyond.
“It literally just fills me with so much love and joy to know that I have the impact for younger girls and younger gymnasts and younger black gymnasts,” she says. “I definitely want to have an impact outside of gymnastics as well.”
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