Neil Armstrong, Michael Jackson and, of course, Nikki Childs.

All three have done one distinct activity, have enthralled audiences, have captivated the masses with one unique talent – moonwalking.

She was not yet born when the King of Pop debuted his fancy footwork in 1983, but Childs, the senior Gym Dog from Plano, Texas, has been moonwalking on the four-inch balance beam during her entire tenure in Athens.

“She’s good at it. I mean really good at it,” Katie Heenan said of her classmate’s not-so-hidden talent. “It really is an eye catcher and the crowd goes crazy for it.”

Childs said her Jackson-esque activities first began in around eighth grade, and she had joked about doing it on beam at her club gym before coming to Athens.

“Back at my club gym we were practicing different dance moves that we could perform on the beam that would just be silly or stupid,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh it would be cool if I did this’ and I knew how to do the moonwalk on the floor so I just tried it on the beam.”

Today, the 5-foot-3 inch dynamo does her beam routine to Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel,” but it’s been a long process. She didn’t even think Gym Dogs coach Suzanne Yoculan would let her do it to begin with.

“It was in practice one day in fall my freshman year, and I was like, ‘Suzanne, what if I did this,’” Childs said. “I mean I didn’t think she’d say yes, but she was like, ‘Oh that’s great, you should definitely put it in there.’ And I was like, ‘OK.’ So I did.”

Childs won’t earn any significant points from her smoothly backsliding feet alone, but it’s something that always brings a smile to the faces of judges and crowds alike.

“There’s no points for those kinds of things, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the judges love it and I think the crowd that knows it’s coming definitely anticipates it,” Heenan said.

“I like being able to bring something to the table that’s really unique and different that no one else has really performed or done before,” Childs said. “Beam isn’t usually considered to be something that you express dance moves in, so I guess that’s what makes it even more fun for me.”