With hands on her hips, Alise Garcia struts to her designated spot on the Dallas Mavericks basketball court. She can feel the buzz of the crowd that surrounds her on all sides, and her heart thunders as she recites the choreography to tonight’s halftime performance in her head. Sooner than seems possible, the dance is over. Garcia turns to the girl standing next to her with a grin plastered across her face and asks “did that even happen?” The entire experience is a blur of adrenaline and pom poms.

The NBA dancer graduated from Arlington High in 2015. At the time she was captain of the Colt Kickers, and she went on to join and lead the Apache Belles, Tyler Junior College’s drill team. While a member of the Colt Kickers, she never dared to imagine herself one day dancing on a professional level.

“In high school I had no idea I would be a professional dancer, I didn’t think I had the skill to do so,” Garcia said. “Drill team and professional dancing are two completely different styles. Drill Team is all about precision, while pro dancing is more hip hop.”

Garcia said she started late when it came to dancing. Her freshman year of high school she saw the drill team perform at the pep rallies and knew she wanted to join, but didn’t know exactly what it would take.

“I didn’t prepare for my audition at all, I just winged it,” Garcia said. “It was overwhelming at first, and then a lot of pressure to be captain. Ms. Knight helped me improve at such a fast pace and I couldn’t have done it without her.”

The Colt Kickers offered Garcia her first official dance training. From day one she knew that it was a hobby she wanted to pursue for as long as possible.

In spring of 2017, as Garcia was taking her final exams and preparing to leave Tyler Junior College, she made the last minute decision to audition for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders team. She described the experience as stressful, and the decision to audition one she didn’t tell her friends or roommates about.

“The hardest part of auditioning for a professional team is deciding to do so,” Garcia said. “Auditioning is scary. They tell you what to expect but it’s still very new. There are cuts all day so you never know if you’re going home that day or if you’ll be there the next day. It’s also very competitive, so seeing all the other girls there can make you start to sort of second guess yourself.”

Garcia kept a level head throughout the process, reminding herself to have fun. Her family’s support, along with how much she enjoyed the process, alleviated the pain of getting cut during the final round of auditions. Knowing she had to stay in Texas to finish school, Garcia didn’t think she’d be able to continue to dance.

“I felt really stuck, I didn’t see my life without dancing so I was really overwhelmed at that time,” Garcia said. “I had always looked up to the Dallas Mavericks dancers, I just didn’t think I had the skill to make the team.”

She knew at least trying to continue was worth the shot, and began attending Mavericks audition prep classes soon after her Dallas Cowboys audition. Even though it was easy to doubt herself after being cut from the Cowboys team, the support of her family helped Garcia stay confident and focused on her passion.

With fingers crossed, Garcia attended the auditions for the Dallas Mavericks dance team.

“On the last day we were given an envelope and told to go outside and open it,” Garcia said. “They either said ‘congratulations’ or ‘thank you for your time.’ I opened it and saw congratulations and I just lost it. My mom was there when I opened it, and I had to tell her to read it for me because I was crying and I didn’t believe it was real.”

From there the experience has been a whirlwind for Garcia. Before making the team, the Arlington girl went to Dallas only once or twice a year. Since making the team she is there nearly every day.

“Dancing there is such a higher energy than it was for college and high school,” Garcia said. “When it’s a good game you can feel the energy radiating off the audience. When I’m on that court it’s surreal. You hear everyone going crazy, screaming your name and for the Mavs. There’s so many people having fun. When I can see people actually enjoying our performance that’s the best part of it.”

Being one of the 18 Mavericks dancers has been a dream come true for Garcia. As a rookie, she still has many moments where she sits back and has to ask herself if what she’s experiencing is real, and she doesnt see it coming to an end anytime soon.

“I don’t think about the future as much as other people do,” Garcia said. “My whole world belongs to the Mavs right now. Wherever that takes me it takes me.”