Most of America still may not know what slacklining is, but the millions watching Madonna perform during halftime at the Super Bowl saw the increasingly popular sport in action.

Gibbon Slacklines, a Boulder company, provided both the line and the athlete, Andy Lewis. Lewis, who’s sponsored by Gibbon, performed acrobatic tricks and danced on the low, trampoline like line during Madonna’s show. The line was strung between two posts in front of the stage.

“It’s very exciting,” said Ricardo Bottome, president of Canaima Outdoors, Gibbon’s distributor for North and South America. “It’s a big day for slacklining.”

Bottome and others from Gibbon watched the show at the Lazy Dog in Boulder. The cameras showed Lewis on the line for about 40 seconds.

In a prepared statement, Lewis said slacklining was the easy part.

“Learning how to dance with Madonna and her dancers is the hardest thing I have ever had to do,” he said. “Using a Gibbon slackline is simple by comparison.”

Slacklining is the act of balancing along a narrow, flexible piece of webbing that’s low to the ground and usually anchored between two trees. Tricklining pushes it further, with professional athletes performing flips, twists and other students and competing for titles.

Bottome said Madonna saw a tricklining competition in November and approached Gibbon about including it in the halftime show. The company was asked to keep the performance a secret until after it happened.

Gibbon, which was started three years ago, sells slacklines and promotes the sport. Bottome said one reason for its popularity is it’s easy to learn and great exercise. Plus, he said, it’s fun and social.

“It’s challenging at the beginning, but you get to progress very fast,” he said. “And it’s portable. You can easily carry it with you and set it up in many places.”