Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

unlv basketball:

At UNLV basketball games, they call him Tiny, and that big kid can dance

The Dancing Fan

Christopher DeVargas

Gil Revolorio, the 19-year-old dancing fan better known as “Tiny,” can be seen busting moves in the stands at Rebel games. Feb. 6, 2012.

Tiny: UNLV's dancing fan

Gil Revolorio, the 19-year-old dancing fan better known as Launch slideshow »

On game day at Thomas & Mack, he’s the standout, coming in at 6-foot-1 and 400 pounds and collecting some of the loudest cheers by the final buzzer.

He can’t dunk like Mike Moser or drain 3-pointers like Chace Stanback.

But man, can that guy up in the student section dance.

They call him Tiny: 19-year-old Gil Revolorio, a UNLV junior majoring in criminal justice with a 3.4 GPA while serving on the student senate.

And on game days, when the courtside band starts playing and the camera trains on him, his image filling the overhead video screen, Tiny moves as smoothly as any pole dancer in town.

The crowd erupts. Always does. It’s hard to tell if everyone is cheering for him, amazed that a guy this big has the wind — and confidence — to dance, or if they’re laughing at him for making such a scene.

Either reason makes no matter to Tiny, as long as everyone’s got smiles on their faces.

“I like to dance. I’m not very good at it, but I’m a comedian and I like to make people laugh,” Tiny says. “Dancing makes people laugh and brings joy. That’s what I’m trying to get people to do — to laugh and smile, and I think I do a pretty good job at that.”

Tiny found this calling at the Apple store at Town Square. He wanted to create a clip for YouTube and thought that rather than sit in front of his computer at home and do some stand-up shtick in an empty living room, he would do something unusual and awkward, in public.

Like dance.

“A comedian has to try out different types of comedy,” he says. “Stand-up, sketch comedy, improv, something nobody expects.”

And nobody anticipates a 400-pound teenager dancing.

So he entered the store, located a demo iMac, and gave one more cautious thought about his plan to cue up music and break out in dance.

“I was really nervous,” he says. “It’s much easier said than done. I thought I might screw it up. Then I decided I might as well do it.”

So he blasted the music, swallowed hard and began gyrating. Then he edited it on the spot, using the video to brand himself as “MexicanFatMan.”

He plays like a one-man flash mob.

Shoppers in the background turn to him and watch, a couple of guys start dancing with him, and at the end, there is laughter among shoppers out of camera view. He grins broadly.

The experience sold him, and he took his dancing on the road. Well, to Thomas & Mack, for Rebels basketball games. That was in the spring of 2011. Of course he’ll be at the Saturday game against San Diego State.

Tiny is flattered people think he’s dancing effortlessly.

“It’s a workout,” he says. “By the time the camera turns away, I’m out of breath.”

He recovers by the next commercial break.

Tiny, who aspires to become a lawyer, goes to the gym for aerobic exercises, and then he plays, of all things, racquetball.

“If I don’t win on my serve, I don’t win the point,” he says. “Luckily, I’m a good server.”

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