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After gymnast Nia Dennis finished her floor routine at UCLA’s dual meet against Utah, she playfully placed a crown on her head. As it turns out, the tiara was more than earned. Last weekend, the UCLA junior performed an ode to royalty with a now-viral all-Beyoncé routine and scored a 9.975 (which, after watching the performance, feels like a major oversight). ESPN reports that this also casually all went down on Dennis’s 21st birthday.
During the Queen Bey homage, Dennis leaps, tucks, and yes, even hits the woah to songs including “Lose My Breath” by Destiny’s Child, “Crazy in Love,” and instrumentals from the Homecoming album. Have I watched it 72 times in a row? Yes. Will I ever be able to pull off a single moment of this performance? No. But that won’t stop me from bringing this Bey-induced mood into every part of my weekend. Come Sunday, the only thing Dennis and I will have in common is the way she collapses to the ground post-performance, which I’m guaranteed to do after attempting to learn her choreo.
After fans began bowing down to Dennis on Twitter, she tweeted gratitude for the support on Friday. “I am overwhelmed with happiness and joy, thank you everyone for such positive messages, it means the world to me to have your support,” she wrote. “This is so surreal i can’t even believe it! much love always.”
Between this and Cheer, my desire to choreograph my own mat routine has never been higher—or more dangerous to those around me.