She described dancing as a form of healthy exercise capable of improving posture and building confidence over time. She noted that parents often introduce children to dance partly because of the poise it can develop.
Sinkins becoming a viral figure, she suggested, showed audiences the long-term influence that dance can have on a person.
It was an unusual form of sports promotion.
Most sports create new fans through extraordinary competitive performances.
A spectacular goal can make someone curious about football.
A record-breaking sprint can draw attention to athletics.
An incredible knockout can attract new combat-sports viewers.
DanceSport, on this occasion, received attention because a judge stood perfectly straight.
Yet perhaps that was appropriate.
If one of the benefits of dance is learning how to carry yourself differently through everyday life, Sinkins had demonstrated that benefit without needing to perform a single routine.
His Connection With China Did Not Begin in Chengdu
The 2025 World Games was not Sinkins' first experience in China.
Xinhua reported that he had previously visited the country for the 2024 Asian DanceSport Festival in Wuxi. Chengdu was his second trip, and he praised both the organization of the Games and the warmth he experienced from spectators.
His official WDSF record also shows that he adjudicated events in Wuxi in July 2024, including a World Championship Latin Adult competition.
But Chengdu changed his relationship with Chinese audiences.
He arrived as an international judge known mainly inside the DanceSport world.
He left with a nickname recognized by millions of social-media users.
The attention did not disappear entirely after the event either.
By 2026, China Daily was still referring to Sinkins as “Mr Ferrari,” describing him as a Latin dance judge who had also become a content creator familiar to Chinese netizens. He appeared at a creators' event in Shanghai and spoke positively about his experiences connecting with people in China.
What began as a few seconds of spectators noticing a judge had unexpectedly created an entirely new public identity.
Why the Story Went Viral
There is something unusually simple about the Sinkins story.
Nothing shocking happened.
Nobody broke a record.
There was no scandal.
Nobody fell down, argued with an official or performed an elaborate publicity stunt.
A man stood beside a dance floor.
People thought he looked extraordinarily elegant.
Then millions of people talked about him.
Part of the appeal was visual.
His height, proportions, silver hair, suit and posture created an immediately recognizable image.
Part was the surprise factor.
People expect elite dancers to look elegant.
They do not necessarily expect the judge sitting beside the floor to become the person everyone screenshots.
And part of the fascination was age.
At 55, Sinkins represented something that social media does not always celebrate: a person growing older without treating age as something that needs to be hidden.
His silver hair remained silver.
His face looked mature.
His appeal came from posture, confidence, health, style and presence rather than trying to imitate someone decades younger.
That may explain why the Ferrari metaphor worked so effectively.