Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

This is the adorable moment when the tension of a little girl’s big chance on stage seemed all too much for her and she simply fell asleep.

The youngster was supposed to be joining her nursery school classmates in an enthusiastic song and dance routine about butterflies.

But as the troupe buzzed through their dance for proud parents in Chongqing, south-west China on 30th May, this young performer was caught napping.

Just 10 seconds into the routine, local media report, she stayed curled up on stage when she was supposed to be dancing to the front.

It was then that audience members realised that the youngster – exhausted, perhaps, by nerves – was fast asleep.

Even the noisy singing and flapping of their butterfly wings by her friends could not rouse her from her unscripted snooze.

The show had been put on by the nursery school as part of celebrations leading up to Children’s Day, which is commemorated in China on 1st June.

One online commenter joked that the little girl was playing the part of a chrysalis during the show and was simply waiting to transform into a butterfly.

According to local reports, her dad was in the audience and was delighted by the touching scene.