And then the afterglow...

This totally reminds me of the kind of thing you would do on the show. If you were giving away a new car or some prize, you would totally do the glowey sparkle stars thing. Come on...you can admit it.

And of course, Miss Val with Anna and her boyfriend Sean (of tribute video fame). 

And last but not least, the obligatory, photo with the pilot. I mean, we alllll have one of these right?

Champs!

Ellen,
Need I say more?

Ok, this is getting ridiculous Ellen

Another 10! Anna got a 10 on bars again! And it was at Regionals. They are so MONEY Ellen. You can always count on your audience to dance crazy, just like you can always count on Anna Li to hit!

First Step Towards World Domination

So Ellen,
The first "round" of nationals is the regional championships. You have to be one of the top two teams to qualify to Nationals. So um...yeah...how do you think our favorite team did? They killed it. Per the usual. Was there ever any doubt?

Just like the people on this flight knew that it would be the best flight of their lives! The UCLA team flew to victory!

Another 10? Yes, way.

Ellen,

Un-be-lievable right? Two 10's in one season? Does UCLA have superstar champions who would be awesome tv show written all over them or what? 

Anna's Leap of Death!

Dear Ellen,
I present to you, the one, the only, Empress of the balance beam: Anna Li. Daughter of two Olympic gymnasts, she is 50% Chinese, 25% cat and 25% Spiderwoman--100% amazing.

Make sure to watch with the sound on.

Nobody Dumbs Down the Boogie

Dear Ellen,

Soon we will have a superstar guest blogger. I know you are excited but you'll just have to wait.

Remember when you danced with the So You Think You Can Dance top 10?


What I love about SYTYCD is that they don't dumb down the dancing. People have started to use the word "accessibility" when talking about choreography, which really means dumb it down and make it corny. What I love about your dancing is that it's never cheesy. It never insults the intelligence of the audience, it's always fun and authentic. That's what I love about UCLA gymnastics too. The routines might make you laugh, cry or gasp but they are never cheesy or dumbed down. However, occasionally they do help the audience with literal interpretations of their routines.

Vanessa Zamarripa, Courtney Shannon and my favorite Anna Li ( at 3:00) dressed as the character who inhabits the choreography. These are just practice routines without tumbling but still hilarious! Do you love?