CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Rong Niu’s pink sequined dress shimmered under the arena lights at a recent Miami men’s basketball game.<\/p>\n
The popular halftime performer<\/a> known as \u201cRed Panda\u201d finished her signature seven-minute set, looked up at a crowd of fans chanting her name and flashed a smile before dismounting.<\/p>\n Cameras rose instantly. A Hurricanes band member shouted “I love you, Red Panda!” A security guard shook his head in disbelief as a nearby fan asked aloud, “How does she do that?\u201d Members of the Hurricanes’ dance team lined up for photos with her before she made her exit.<\/p>\n Niu has grown somewhat accustomed to the fanfare over decades performing at NBA, WNBA and college basketball games \u2014 her first halftime show was a Los Angeles Clippers game in 1993. Still, even after sports fans rallied around her following a frightening fall<\/a> during a WNBA game last July, she can hardly put words to what the support means to her.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel so much support,” Niu said after performing at Miami\u2019s home game against Stanford on Wednesday. “It\u2019s beyond support \u2014 I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t have a better word to describe that feeling. That was beyond appreciation.\u201d<\/p>\n Niu comes from a family of performing acrobats. She’s been doing it since age 7, when her father first discovered her talent by helping her balance bowls and bricks on her head at their home in China\u2019s Shanxi province.<\/p>\n Her act is composed of her riding a custom-built unicycle, which stretches about 8 feet above the court, and balancing custom-made bowls on her lower leg before flipping them atop her head.<\/p>\n During intermission of the WNBA Commissioner\u2019s Cup final between the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Lynx, Niu fell off her unicycle and crashed to the court a minute into her performance. She remained down for several minutes, was eventually helped off by wheelchair and later diagnosed with a broken left wrist.<\/p>\n \u201cI now realize I was disoriented. It was not just pain right here,\u201d Niu said Wednesday, pointing to her left wrist, which she recalled being swollen and in immense pain. \u201cI wasn\u2019t very clear because of the impact. They said, \u2018Can you walk?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yes,\u2019 and then I tried to stand up and walk. And then, I think I was passing out.”<\/p>\n She spent 11 hours in a Minneapolis hospital, with a pair of Lynx staffers there with her the entire time. As she lay in the hospital bed, she wondered what could have gone wrong during the act she’d performed so many times.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not saying I\u2019m that good or anything,\u201d she said. \u201cI generally don\u2019t fall. Bowls fall, because the bowls are going into the air and sometimes I\u2019m not able to control (them). But riding the unicycle … it shouldn\u2019t be out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n Niu returned to the arena after being released from the hospital. Her unicycle was in the same place she’d left it in her dressing room.<\/p>\n She began to inspect it, checking the rotation of the wheel, looking at the handle. Then she noticed one of her pedals was slightly bent. She typically wraps her equipment very carefully when she travels, but it had somehow been damaged in transit; whether during security checks or on the airplane, she’s not sure.<\/p>\n \u201cNormally I would set up the unicycle. I will test it. I test like this,” she said, turning her wheel as she demonstrated her process of checking the equipment. \u201cI test it. But I didn\u2019t test (the pedal).\u201d<\/p>\n Niu still shudders at the memory of the fall, which required surgery and about four months of recovery, but she received an outpouring of support on social media, including from Fever star Caitlin Clark, as well as cards and gifts.<\/p>\n