User:Risker/Red Panda

Rong (Krystal) Niu, known professionally as Red Panda, is an acrobat known mainly for her performances at half-time shows throughout the NBA and other sports venues. She rides an 8-foot-high unicycle and uses her foot to flips specially-designed bowls (often thrown to her by the home team's mascot) to create a stack on top of her head.

Early life, education, and early career
Rong Niu was born to father GuiZhang Niu and mother Jiang LongDi in the city of Taiyuan, China; she has one younger sister. Both of her parents were professional acrobats; her father was a contortionist who specialized in using the tall pole, while her mother was a high-wire juggler. Her maternal grandmother and great-grandmother were also acrobats.

By the time Niu was seven years old, her father was teaching her the bowl-flipping and unicycle skills that became the key to her performances. At age 10, she entered Taiyuan Art School, where her father was an instructor. She became a full-time performer at age 12, moving to the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe at age 14. With the troupe, she traveled throughout the world. Following one of the tours, at age 19, she accepted a contract at the Chinese Pavilion of Disneyworld's Epcot Center and also performed at events in the area.

As an independent performer
Niu moved to San Francisco and selected "Red Panda" as her performance name. She began performing, and sent out videos to solicit opportunities, but her freelance career started off slowly. Finally, in November 1993, she was invited by the Los Angeles Clippers to fill in for an injured half-time performer, and this began her career performing at professional sports events.

https://www.si.com/nba/2019/08/28/red-panda-rong-niu-nba-halftime-china-76ers-warriors

https://www.complex.com/sports/2017/04/nba-premier-halftime-act-has-no-plans-to-hang-up-her-unicycle

https://raleighco.com/sports/everything-youve-ever-wondered-red-panda/

https://www.sbnation.com/2018/3/11/17102628/red-panda-krystal-niu-halftime-show-acrobat-unicycle

http://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/feature/article/19559368/nba-halftime-acrobat-red-panda-performing-gives-sense-worthiness

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/02/warriors-purchasing-custom-made-unicycle-for-red-panda/

America's_Got_Talent_(season_8)