In the past two months, a 23-year-old woman nicknamed “roly-poly girl” has gone viral among Chinese netizens. Dressed in a Tang Dynasty-style costume and held up in the air by an iron contraption, she danced and rotated gracefully at a scenic spot in Xi’an.

With a sweet smile, she has attracted spectators from near and far. Now, some tourist sites in other Chinese cities have also rolled out dancers copying her moves to lure visitors.

The girl, whose real name is Feng Jiachen, used to be a stage dancer before she switched to street performance at Great Tang All Day Mall. Talking about the difference between dancing on-stage and performing in the street, Feng said street performance is more difficult and more interesting than stage performance.

“When I danced in stage plays, with all the sets and lighting, I just needed to focus on my performance. But in street performance, I’m close to the audience, which means they focus a lot on me. I have to be very careful with every eye contact and every smile, and interacting with them is also important,” she said.

When Feng performed at tourist sites, she was just a background performer in shows and parades. But her enthusiasm and passion prevail in all her performances. Whenever she’s in a show, she’s wearing a big smile. Then she took up the roly-poly performance in July, and has gone through many hardships unknown to the crowds that watch her.

To perform the special dance, her lower body is tied to a round iron frame with an iron belt around her waist. To make the contraption move, she has to use her waist. After every show, her hips and knees are bruised.

To meet the demands on her strength, Feng has to exercise even after work. One would be amazed at the muscularity of her arms. Practice gives her the skills to keep balance while performing all manner of graceful movements. “I want to bring the best shows to the audience, so I have to take things to the limit,” said Feng.

According to Feng, she was selected from over 100 candidates for the roly-poly dance. To remain balanced, a male performer should be around 175 cm tall and less than 60 kg in weight, and a female performer should be around 163 cm tall and less than 50 kg in weight. “Many candidates fell down as soon as they stood on the roly-poly. Others simply quit after trying just a few times,” she said.

To improve her performance, Feng checks the videos tourists upload to the Internet after every show. She goes over her facial expressions and movements and thinks of ways she can do better. In her free time, she spends most of the time practicing dancing.

Feng was born and raised in Xi’an. When she first took the roly-poly job, her parents were not supportive. “They thought the job was too hard for a girl. But I do love to perform, and gradually they came to understand me,” she said.

As Feng gets more and more famous through the video-sharing app TikTok, she has become a super Internet celebrity, and entertainment companies have even offered her jobs. However, she has turned them down. Being famous is not what the girl’s into.

“When I started performing, I didn’t expect so many people to like it. I just loved it. I didn’t really care whether I became famous or not. As long as I’m performing, I’ll do my best,” said Feng.(Lin Lin)