FORGET STODGY MUSIC. COLLEGE GYMNASTS ARE
INCORPORATING POP HITS (AND POLITICAL
MESSAGES) INTO VIRAL, HIGH-SCORING ROUTINESN
SCORECARDFLOORING IT
OTHING IS too silly
or ridiculous to put in
a floor routine if it’s
entertaining and fun.”
That’s UCLA choreographer
Bijoya “BJ” Das’s philosophy, and it
has produced some of the highest-
scoring, most-viewed routines
in NCAA gymnastics. Das has
collaborated with gymnasts such
as former national team member
Nia Dennis and current Bruins
star Margzetta Frazier to create
performances that not only garner
millions of views but also convey
messages, themes or identities
that are significant to the athletes.
“Whatever you do, commit to it,”
Das says. “If you are the most
awkward dancer on the team, cool!
Go with that. Commit to being the
most awkward dancer and people
will love it. Nothing has to look
perfectly polished all the time.”
By the time the Bruins, whowere ranked No. 8 nationally in
the preseason, hit the floor last
month, their routines were clean
and sharp, but that doesn’t mean
the choreography and music lack
edge and style. Frazier—who went
viral last season and received a
FaceTime call from Janet Jackson
after using her music and dance
moves in a routine that earned a
9.925 in its debut—worked with
Das this year to create a routine
that she says is backed by “a mix
of a bunch of really iconic voguing
songs.” It features movements she
learned from studying the Harlem
ballroom scene, drag culture and
voguers like Honey Balenciaga and
Leiomy Maldonado.
Kevin Aviance’s “Din Da Da,”
RuPaul’s “Call Me Mother” and
Madonna’s “Vogue” are a few of the
pieces Frazier picked for her senior-
season routine, and she says using
Britney Spears’s “Work Bitch” wasan absolute must because it “gets
me out of bed in the morning.”
In listing all the songs in her
mix, Frazier points out that her
choreography and music choices
starkly contrast the “very orchestral
and proper” styles common in
elite gymnastics. She then poses a
rhetorical question: “Do you think
anyone would ever do Britney Spears
at the Olympics?”
As a former elite gymnast who
represented the U.S. internationally,
Frazier knows that side of the
sport is a bit more buttoned up
when it comes to floor routines due
to a stricter scoring system and
traditional ideas of which dance
styles are deemed artistic. “There’s18 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | SI.COM
BY TESS DMEYERC. MORGAN ENGEL/NCAA PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGESSQUID PRO QUO
Thomas, an All-American on
the floor in 2021, will use a
Netflix-themed routine in ’22.