Power and precision
Gymnasts Stella Umeh and Leah Homma may share a room, hometown
and love for their sport, but the two could not be more different
when it comes to artistic style, musical choices and
personality.
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Staff
If you want an enigmatical experience, try watching the UCLA
women’s gymnastics team on the floor exercise.
The second to last gymnast to compete is junior Leah Homma, who
does an exotic routine, like a slow, snake dance, to surprisingly
fast-tempoed Transylvanian music by the group Deep Forest.
Last up is defending national floor champion Stella Umeh. Umeh
moves quicker, holds poses only for an instant, and switches into
another expressive dance sequence, then into a tumbling run. She
does this routine to the slowest music imaginable, a piece which
sounds like an electric guitar, slow and twangy.
Homma is a belly dancer, Umeh like a butterfly. It would be hard
to find two gymnasts as different as UCLA’s top two all-arounders,
who also happen to be roommates.
"Stella is dynamic, explosive and extremely quick," UCLA head
coach Valorie Kondos said. "Leah is precise, elegant, regal."
Umeh demonstrates her explosiveness on floor as much in her
tumbling as in her dance, where she alternates a double layout and
a whip to immediate double back. On balance beam, she is known for
a four-trick tumbling run which at the end leaves you wondering how
she fit it all in.
Homma’s routines are graceful, highlighted by poses which
emphasize her lines. On both floor and beam her dance leads up to
the Homma flares, a move named after her, and she also tumbles a
double layout.
Both are from Ontario, Canada, where they trained at different
gyms about half an hour apart. Both gymnasts laugh when they
describe the differences between their respective gyms, where many
of their differences in style probably stem from.
Homma’s gym is described as more structured. Her coach, who both
she and Umeh compare to Kondos, was organized and systematic, all
of the gymnasts were to wear the same leotards, and style their
hair the same way.
The atmosphere in Umeh’s gym was more chaotic. Umeh’s coach is
described as dynamic and emotional. Each gymnast was encouraged
toward developing individuality.
"You could totally tell which gymnasts were from Seneca (Homma’s
gym), and which were from my gym," Umeh said. "The styles were
completely different. They were more beam and bars, choreography.
We were more vault and floor. We were powerful, they were
aesthetically pleasing. They were precision oriented, control. We
were all over the place, the wild jungle fever group.
"Leah’s style has always been really beautiful to watch, really
nice lines. Her gym as a whole had that."
The two met at a qualifier meet in Ontario. Umeh was 10, Homma
11, and even then their similarities outside of gymnastics weren’t
too apparent.
Homma had thick glasses and was the tallest gymnast on the team.
Umeh describes herself as short, scrawny and sporting an "afro."
Umeh had the outgoing personality – she was the talker. Homma was
more reserved and quiet.
Said Homma: "Stella’s a total individual. No one can be like
her. She’s a risk-taker, she has the highest difficulty on the
collegiate scene. And always, ever since I’ve known her, she’s
gotten the attention, because she’s a wild, crazy girl.
"We were so completely the opposite," Homma said, laughing.
"Night and day different," Umeh added. "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle
Dum."
And not much has changed since the days when Umeh and Homma
competed against each other on club teams, and together on the
Canadian national team. Except that Homma no longer towers over her
teammates (at 5-foot-0-inches, she’s the tiniest on the team) and
Umeh may have toned down the hair a bit.
Kondos, who creates routines specifically for the style of each
gymnast, says she spends a lot of time on Homma’s routine because
she choreographs each of the minutest movements. Umeh’s routines
are choreographed by her sister, and emphasize her entire body.
"From what I understand, Stella puts on the music and just
moves, and her sister cleans up the choreography," Kondos said.
"It’s more improvisational, and it’s so natural for her. With Leah,
I choreograph every move so precisely, every fingertip.
"It’s hard to find a gymnast who can pull off slow music, so
when I find them, I use them. When I first worked with Leah, I saw
her beautiful lines. I found this cello music from Cirque de
Soleil. It was so slow. But everybody loved it."
Homma and Umeh both have talked of experimenting with different
types of music on floor, and perhaps emphasizing different sides of
their gymnastics personalities. Homma has been asking Kondos for
faster music ever since she was a freshman, though Kondos maintains
the slower type of music better shows off Homma’s style. Umeh’s
music this year is a complete change from last year’s fast-paced,
wild-bird music.
"Ever since I was 10 I had these jungle pieces (for floor
music)," Umeh said. "I was this carpet-headed, African-American
thing, running around the floor. Now I have a total sex-pot
routine, and it’s crazy because it’s so hard. I can’t breathe
through the whole routine, no matter how much energy I have, it’s
too slow. My second tumbling run my heart is in my belt because I’m
gasping for air, sucking wind, it’s so bad. Faster routines I’m
less tired."
Midway through the season, both Homma and Umeh have their sights
set for the national championships, and their contrasting styles
seem to work for them as they trade all-around championships back
and forth from meet to meet.
"It’s fun having athletes with characters and personalities that
are different," Kondos said. "That the crowd can really relate to.
I think those athletes need to have the most bizarre and obscure
music. I haven’t had so much fun choreographing since Tanya Service
and (three-time national floor champion) Kim Hamilton were here in
the late ’80s."
JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin
UCLA gymnast Stella Umeh is the epitome of power …
ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin
… While her roommate Leah Homma embodies grace. and beauty in
her routines.
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