- Zoe Johnson's floor routine features a 'scary doll vibe.'
- Johnson's routine matches her serious demeanor, despite her naturally bubbly personality.
- Coach Dockendorf says the routine builds Johnson's confidence after a past injury.
SALT LAKE CITY — You won't catch Red Rocks gymnast Zoe Johnson watching scary movies by herself in the dark.
So why is her floor routine this season a bit dark and a "scary doll vibe"?
If you've seen Johnson perform on floor this season, her routine embodies a lot of what you'd likely expect a Chucky doll to move like if performing gymnastics (minus the actual horror elements of a murderous, possessed doll). So everything else.
Her floor music and the possessed-like routine certainly elicit a scary movie imagery — even if Johnson said she "really likes watching them during the moment, but then really regret it" after she watches a horror movie.
The routine, however, is more an opportunity to match the more serious demeanor Johnson holds when she performs in front of thousands with a focused look.
"Last year, she had a very bubbly, smiley routine," Red Rocks head coach Carly Dockendorf said. "That's just not her when she competes. So we were always like, smile — always smile; look like you're having fun. And so I said to Myia (Hambrick), I was like, 'What if we do kind of a dark, serious (routine) and then she doesn't need to pretend to be smiley out there?'"
"Smiling in my floor isn't, like, me," Johnson added.
The coaching staff approached Johnson over the summer and asked if she'd be comfortable with "a more serious vibe." She said she was "just open to trying just about anything," and signed off on the darker floor routine.
"Myia really worked with me on the floor routine, because she was like, I don't want to do anything that you're like, 'Oh god, I don't want to do that.' So she was really good about kind of balancing what she thought was best but also what I kind of was comfortable with," Johnson said.
And though scary, serious and dark don't generally fit within the traditionally upbeat vibe of gymnastics, Johnson's floor routine does its job to showcase a consistent storyline while highlighting her incredible gymnastics that feature a well-executed double layout on one of her tumbling passes.
But the serious tone sometimes doesn't always fit Johnson's demeanor, Dockendorf admitted.
"Of course, she just giggles in her routine sometimes, or she forgets her choreo, and then she starts laughing," Dockendorf joked. "And it's like you need to stay in character, like we gave this to you so it would be really natural for you to just be dark and serious, and now you're giggling out there.
"She is funny, goofy — like, she isn't a serious person," Dockendorf added. "So that was why freshman year we had chosen that. And I do think this is a good way for her, and she's settling into the routine we adjusted, and she's getting a lot more confident with the team."
It's all helped Johnson build her confidence as she navigates her second season with the Red Rocks — though her first full season of competition after a nagging back injury held her out for several meets last season.
"I feel like the coaches just really vocalized to me this year a lot how much they believed in me and how much talent I had, and I feel like it just kind of helped me," Johnson said. "I was just kind of ready to get in the gym and work."
And whether its floor, where she has a career-high of 9.90, or as a pivotal member of the much-improved vault team where she holds a 9.950 career-high, Johnson has found herself more as a collegiate gymnast and is confident in whatever the team needs as it seeks its first national championship since 1995.
