CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Rong Niu’s pink sequined dress shimmered under the arena lights at a recent University of Miami men’s basketball game.
The popular halftime performer known as Red Panda finished her signature seven-minute set, looked up at a crowd of fans chanting her name and flashed a smile before dismounting.
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?” Members of the Hurricanes dance team lined up for photos with her before she made her exit.
Niu has grown somewhat accustomed to the fanfare over decades performing at NBA, WNBA and college basketball games — her first halftime show was a Los Angeles Clippers game in 1993. Still, even after sports fans rallied around her following a frightening fall during a WNBA game in July, she can hardly put words to what the support means to her.
“I feel so much support,” Niu said after performing Wednesday at Miami’s home game against Stanford. “It’s beyond support — I don’t know. I don’t have a better word to describe that feeling. That was beyond appreciation.”
Niu comes from a family of performing acrobats. She has 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’s Shanxi province.
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.
During intermission of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup final between the Indiana Fever and 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.
“I now realize I was disoriented. It was not just pain right here,” Niu said Wednesday, pointing to her left wrist, which she recalled being swollen and in immense pain. “I wasn’t very clear because of the impact. They said, ‘Can you walk?’ I said, ‘Yes,’ and then I tried to stand up and walk. And then, I think I was passing out.”
She spent 11 hours in a Minneapolis hospital with a pair of Lynx staffers 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.
“I’m not saying I’m that good or anything,” she said. “I generally don’t fall. Bowls fall, because the bowls are going into the air and sometimes I’m not able to control (them). But riding the unicycle … it shouldn’t be out of control.”
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.
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.
“Normally 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. “I test it. But I didn’t test (the pedal).”
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.
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Benny the Bull looks on as Red Panda performs at halftime of a game between the Chicago Bulls and the Philadelphia 76ers at the United Center in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
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Benny the Bull looks on as Red Panda performs at halftime of a game between the Chicago Bulls and the Philadelphia 76ers at the United Center in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
She returned to action Oct. 23 for an Amazon Prime event, then back to the NBA court Nov. 1 for a game between the Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers at the United Center.
Returning to the court hasn’t been easy.
“I still have the thoughts,” she said. “I still have the thoughts when I start pedaling.”
But as fans chant her name, forgoing halftime trips to concession stands and restrooms to watch her perform, Niu is filled with both gratitude and motivation.
“I want to show that I can do this,” she said. “But (when) I couldn’t do it, they still chanted for me. I feel I owe them something. I feel very appreciative. I don’t have the best words to describe that feeling, but it’s a lot of support. It goes in my heart.”
