User:Bagumba/sandbox3
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Rong "Krystal" Niu[1] (born 1970 or 1971),[2] known professionally as Red Panda, is a Chinese acrobat who flips bowls from her foot to hear head while on a unicycle.[1]
Early life[edit]
Niu was born in the Shanxi Province of China.[3]She grew up in Taiyuan, 250 miles southwest of Beijing, where she enrolled in a boarding school for acrobats.[4] She is a fourth-generation acrobat, with her mother, grandmother and great grandmother having flipped bowls as well;[1] her father was a trapeze artist.[5] She began training at age seven and later attended a government-funded boarding school specializing in acrobatic arts when she was nine.[6][7] Her dad was also a teacher at the school and trained her.[6] Niu began performing when she was 11.[1] Around that time, she and her father modified a popular routine in which a performer riding a 7+1⁄2-foot (2.3 m) unicycle flips bowls from her foot onto her head. Instead of the bowls being stacked within each other on her foot, it was her father's brainchild to have them piled end-to-end and being flipped onto her head. She spent years honing her act.[6]
While touring internationally, she was approached by Disney.[1] When she was 19,[6] Niu moved to the United States to Orlando, Florida, after signing to perform at Epcot.[3] Around a year and a half later, she moved to San Francisco, mostly because of it's large Chinese population.[6]
She began performing at halftime of National Basketball Association (NBA) games in 1993. On Thanksgiving Day, she was contacted by the Los Angeles Clippers when their halftime act for that night cancelled. She took the next flight from her home in San Francisco to Los Angeles and performed that night.[6] She became one of the most in-demand and respected performers around the NBA and also college basketball,[6][7] and performed at around 60 basketball games a year.[6] She developed into the rare performer that fans would put off going to the restroom or concession stands in order to watch.[6][7]
In 2013, she competed in Season 8 of America's Got Talent and advanced to the semifinals.[8] However, she withdrew to care for her father, who needed chemotherapy for esophageal cancer. Still practicing while caring for her father, Niu fell backwards off her unicycle and broke her wrist. It was her first major injury as an acrobat. Her father's cancer returned and he died in May 2014. Afterwards, her mother suffered health issues.[3]
After a two-year break taking care for her parents, she returned to performing in 2015 despite rumors that she had retired.[1] Her first NBA performance was with the Memphis Grizzlies in their 2015–16 home opener on October 28.[3][8]
Her performance lasts about 5+1⁄2 minutes, and include 16 metal bowls painted white. She estimates she has a perfect show 75–80 percent of the time.[9] During her hiatus in 2014, Darren Rovell reported that she made $5,000 per performance at her peak.[10]
Dime called her "the best halftime act in basketball".[8]
In January 2018, her lost her bike when it was improperly scanned at San Francisco International Airport.[11]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f Krest, Shawn (May 9, 2017). "Why and how: Everything you've ever wondered about Red Panda". Raleigh & Company. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019.
- ^ Thompson, Avery (June 19, 2013). "'America's Got Talent' Recap: The Red Panda Amazes With Acrobatics". Hollywood Life. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Wong, Alex (November 9, 2015). "After Time Away, Red Panda Returns". Sports On Earth. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
- ^ Sugiura, Ken (March 10, 2017). "The story of Red Panda, the amazing halftime act". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ Casazza, Mike (February 19, 2016). "Beloved Red Panda returns to Morgantown after hiatus". Charleston Gazatte-Mail. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Maine, D'Arcy (June 7, 2017). "NBA halftime acrobat Red Panda: Performing 'gives me a sense of worthiness'". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c Archdeacon, Tom (January 25, 2018). "Beloved Red Panda strives for halftime perfection". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c Difilippo, Bill (October 22, 2015). "The Grizzlies Are Bringing Back Famed Halftime Performer 'Red Panda' For Opening Night". Dime. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
- ^ Casagrande, Michael (January 21, 2018). "A conversation with Red Panda, America's favorite unicycle riding, bowl flipping halftime act". AL.com. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
- ^ Payne, Melissa (October 2, 2014). "Famed NBA halftime acrobat Rong Niu, aka Red Panda, is reportedly retiring". Washington Post. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
- ^ Woods, David (February 2, 2018). "Red Panda, on backup unicycle, set to perform at Hinkle Fieldhouse". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved April 17, 2020.