ALT EXAMPLE - USER GUIDE - UNBOUNCE - UCLA - Flipbook - Page 7
COACHING STAFF
KRISTINA
The Massachusetts native began gymnastics at age 3 and trained at Sterling Academy of
Gymnastics, where he became a multiple state and Region 6 floor and vault champion. At
age 17, he switched to competing and coaching All Star cheerleading. After graduating
from high school, he moved to Miami, Fla. to join Top Gun All Stars, where he won two
World Championship titles and two third-place finishes, along with multiple national
titles. Palange also coached teams to several National titles from 2008-12.
COMFORTE
Associate Head Coach
3rd Season
UCLA ‘10
From 2009-10, Palange attempted a comeback in gymnastics, training with World
Champion and Olympic medalist Danell Leyva, but officially retired from competing in 2010.
BJ
DAS
Former UCLA All-American and U.S. National Team member Kristina Comforte begins
her third season as associate head coach.
Volunteer Assistant Coach
3rd Season
The Bruins’ balance beam coach, Comforte guided Grace Glenn to a historic feat on
Feb. 23, 2020, as Glenn became the first gymnast in NCAA history to score a perfect
10 on beam from the leadoff position. Glenn, along with Kyla Ross, earned first-team
All-America honors on the event during the shortened 2020 season, and UCLA finished
the regular season ranked No. 3 overall and No. 5 on beam. In 2021, Comforte guided
Chae Campbell to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and first-team AllAmerica honors on beam.
Comforte, a five-time All-American and a 2008 Pac-12 All-Academic selection, competed
at UCLA from 2006-08. As a freshman, she scored a perfect 10 on vault and was
runner-up on vault at the NCAA Championships. In 2008, she won the balance beam
title at the NCAA Southeast Regionals and was second on uneven bars at the NCAA
Championships. Injuries forced her to retire from competition at the start of her senior
year in 2009, and Comforte moved into an undergraduate assistant coach role. In 2010,
she helped guide the Bruins to a NCAA title.
Professional choreographer and dancer BJ Das begins her third season as UCLA
Gymnastics’ volunteer assistant coach.
Das’ choreography on floor exercise has gained big notoriety, as Nia Dennis’ 2020
Beyonce routine and 2021 Black Excellence routine both went viral. Margzetta Frazier
also went viral in 2021 with her Janet Jackson routine. The Bruins ranked No. 1 in the
nation on floor exercise in 2020, and their team score of 49.8, set Feb. 23, was the
nation’s highest event score on any apparatus all season. In 2021, Das choreographed
Pac-12-winning floor routines by Chae Campbell and Pauline Tratz.
Following her graduation in 2010, Comforte worked at CAA Sports in Chicago for three
years and then returned to gymnastics as the head coach at TAG USA Gymnastics in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She was an assistant coach at the University of Illinois in 2017,
serving as the team’s main vault and floor coach and primary choreographer. That
season, Comforte helped coach the Illini to the second-highest floor score in school
history (49.450). She coached Level 7-10s on floor and vault at Illinois Gymnastics
Institute from 2018-19.
DOM
As a professional dancer, Das has performed live with Beyonce, P!nk and Usher and
toured with Avril Lavigne. Her music video credits include Beyonce’s “Run the World
(Girls)”, Ariana Grande’s “Baby I” and Justin Bieber/Nicki Minaj’s “Beauty and a Beat”.
Das has also performed live at the 2019 Grammy Awards, the 2018 American Music
Awards and on the Ellen Show, The Voice and Late Show with James Corden, among
others. Additionally, Das has choreographed for TV shows GLOW, Fresh Off the Boat
and The Masked Singer, along with the Emmy Awards and Radio Disney Music Awards.
She also served as an assistant choreographer for the Gold Over America Tour in 2021.
Her first Hollywood experience was as a gymnast on the movie Stick It. Das has been
signed to Bloc Talent Agency as a dancer and choreographer since 2007.
PALANGE
Das was the volunteer assistant coach and choreographer at the University of Utah in
2019, when the Utes ranked in the Top 5 in the nation on floor exercise.
Assistant Coach
3rd Season, 6th Overall
A 2006 graduate of the University of Washington, Das earned her Bachelor’s degree in
psychology. She competed on the Husky gymnastics team for two years.
Comforte holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and completed her Master’s Degree in
Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2018.
Dom Palange, who was a volunteer assistant coach for UCLA Gymnastics from 201416, returns for his third season as the Bruins’ assistant coach.
Palange, the vault and floor exercise coach, guided UCLA to a No. 1 national ranking
on floor and a No. 5 ranking on vault in 2020. A Bruin scored a perfect 10 on each
event - Gracie Kramer with her first-ever on floor and Kyla Ross on vault, her 22nd
and final career perfect 10. In 2021, he coached three Bruins to Pac-12 individual
championships - Sekai Wright on vault and Chae Campbell and Pauline Tratz on floor.
During his previous stint at UCLA, Palange coached the Bruins on floor exercise in 2016
and on balance beam in 2014 and 2015, coaching Samantha Peszek to the NCAA
beam title in 2015. He helped guide the Bruins to the 2016 Pac-12 title and the 2015
NCAA Regional title. He also coached at Waller’s GymJam Academy from 2013-16.
5
