Written by Sasha Agent
The 2010-2011 season was my rookie year as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. I knew that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders was a team of which I had always wanted to be a part; however, little did I know how it would change my life.
This past spring my teammates chose me as their 2010-2011 Rookie of the Year. This was a HUGE honor, as well as a HUGE surprise. Looking back at my accomplishments, one can only truly understand the importance of this title if they understand my journey to becoming a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. After having my little girl, I never thought dancing professionally was still an option. I asked myself, could I ever get back into dancer shape? Could I still find time to be a dancer and a mommy? Could I do all that and still find a way to work? The easy answer was no. Even entertaining the idea of managing all of that stressed me out. It wasn't until my daughter was three that I seriously thought about dancing again.
Now, all my current teammates know that I am NOT a technical dancer. In fact, even showing my face at a local dance studio still intimidates me to this day. It was a summer evening in 2008, and I decided to go by a popular dance studio in Sacramento, Calif. It was an advanced hip-hop class. Of course, being super-nervous, I stood in the back line. The instructor walked in and gave a brief introduction. Then, he walked toward the back in my direction and told me, "It was about time you showed." I laughed because I immediately knew what he meant.
You see, Sacramento is a smaller city, which means it has an even smaller dance community. Because I used to dance for Sacramento's professional NBA dance team, he probably figured I should have been taking dance classes a long time ago. This comment, however, only made me more nervous. I thought, great, it's been three years since I've danced, and now I'm going to leave this teacher disappointed.
We started to learn the choreography, and I quickly began to realize that things were coming back naturally. The instructor even asked me to model a piece of the choreography for the class, which in turn made me feel pretty good. I remember driving home that night reflecting on how great it felt to dance again. And to think, for three years I had set aside my true passion – almost giving up on it. I began to brainstorm and explore the possibilities. Maybe I could join a dance company or even audition to perform in a local hip-hop show. However, I would always go back to my roots, my roots of professional cheerleading.
I began to do more research. Of course, I thought about the local teams first because why would I move my daughter and me to another state just to dance? There were the 49ers and Golden State Warriors. However, I thought, would I truly be happy ending my dance career with either one of those teams? I began to think outside of the box – if I were to choose any professional dance team in the nation to end my dancing career with, which one would it be? Well, what team better than the "often imitated, but never equaled," Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders?
I remember thinking about that idea and laughing at the thought of moving myself to Dallas, Texas just to dance. Even though I thought it would be almost impossible to jump states, I quickly developed this obsession with the DCC. I watched videos of them dancing online, I watched marathons of Making the Team on CMT, checked out their website and researched their history. The more I researched, the more I realized how badly I wanted to be a part of their rich history.
By December of 2008, I had my mind made up – somehow I was going to move to Texas to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.
