anielle “Dani” Butala brought a little bit of circus to the recent NFL Holiday Halftime Show at FedEx Field near Washington, D.C.

Wearing a candy cane striped outfit, she danced atop sky-high stilts as she swirled a hula hoop around her waist and arms.

For Butala, the opportunity to perform in the show was breathtaking - and not just because of the frigid temperatures on that December night.

“To stand dead center of the FedEx stadium on the 50-yard line was a fabulous feeling,” said Butala, who lives near Jim Thorpe. “It has always been a dream of mine to perform a halftime show.”

She goes by the name of Dani LongLegs when she is walking on stilts. Appropriate, after all, since she stands 8-feet tall with them on. Add a top hat, and she reaches 8 feet, 9 inches.

For the performance, she hula-hooped alongside - or rather, above - Command Force dancers and cheerleaders. A band played holiday classics, as tens of thousands watched from the arena and millions more tuned in from their homes.

As she entertained from the Washington Commanders’ 85,000 seat stadium, she thought of her loved ones.

“It is a feeling of accomplishment to add it to my portfolio. Most importantly my mom (Joan Butala) is proud, as are my kids, and my dad (the late Eugene Butala of West Penn Township),” she said. “Though he passed just a couple years ago, he was a huge football fan and coach, and I have no doubt he is proud. In fact, I really do believe he had a hand in whispering my name along. He had quite a loud mouth in life, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the same held true in the afterlife!”

Butala performs solo and with the Eclectic Circus, wowing crowds at community events such as the recent Jim Thorpe Olde Time Christmas.

“It brings so much wonder and amazement to people’s faces; I count myself lucky,” she said.

Butala noted that she enjoys embracing the energy generated by large crowds.

“But I had never hoped for such a prestigious one as this,” she said of the halftime show.

She checked her email one day and found a note from Jeffrey Dokken, maestro of the Rome Orchestra in Georgia and director of music for the NFL Commanders. Dokken was interested in booking her for the special holiday performance.

“I thought it to be a hoax. How could he have heard of me all the way in Georgia?” Butala said.

After some back-and-forth, she realized it was the real deal.

“Apparently my long legs precede me and my reputation as a skilled stilt walker indeed did reach his ever-listening ears,” she said.

She continued with bouts of disbelief until the first day of practice.

“Then it sunk in and I relaxed into the excitement of it,” she said.

She traveled to the stadium with her partner, Shawn McCarty.

“From the 4-hour road trip down to the frigid, fabulous show, to the hot tub hotel room at the end of the night, there was not a moment I didn’t enjoy,” she said.

When she wasn’t practicing, she enjoyed sharing stories with the dancers, band members and handful of other circus artists.

“We even embarked on a quest for coffee to warm up from the cold of the field not knowing quite how large FedEx stadium is. With our artist-access passes we went winding through the labyrinth-like underbelly, service elevators and back halls among the myriad armed security guards, vendors and personnel,” she said. “It was a unique viewpoint I thoroughly enjoyed.”

Butala began stilt walking a few years ago, as a way to level up - so to speak - her performance skills.

By that point, she had been teaching hula hoop fitness classes for some time, and had helped establish the Eclectic Circus with friends.

“We all were looking for a creative, energetic outlet for the performing arts, specifically flow arts,” she said. Flow arts, she explained, are dances that incorporate props like hula hoops, batons, juggling - and even fire.

“All of us were amateurs. I have no formal background in dance and I think that’s important to note. You don’t have to be extensively trained to pursue a passion,” Butala said. “As it turned out there was and still is a demand for unique performance art in our area, and also a need for creative outlets for those looking to perform, or just learn fun, new skills. I try to provide that outlet through the Eclectic Circus.”

Since becoming involved with flow arts, she’s added silk veils, butterfly wings and fans, similar to those used by belly dancers. Butala can even twirl long batons of fire.

Her favorite skills, she admitted, are aerial silks and aerial hoops, where she performs acrobatics while hanging from a special fabric or clutching a large ring. that’s suspended in the air.

It doesn’t end there; Butala works with a mermaid pod, has a professional mermaid fin on loan, and performs as a pirate with East Coast Pirate Entertainment.

She will never give up stilt walking - but you might soon have to look a little higher to see her.

“I do have another pair that puts me just under 10 feet but I haven’t publicly debuted those just yet,” she said.

For more photos, visit Dani Long Legs and the Eclectic Circus on Facebook.