LAPLACE – When Rajon Alexander was just 3 years old, her parents took her to see a relative perform in a local dance recital.

It was an adventure, to say the least.

“We couldn’t keep her in her seat,” said Jonae Alexander, Rajon’s mom. “She kept trying to get on stage with the dancers saying, ‘I want to dance! I want to be on the stage!’”

Jonae and her husband, Reginald, eventually had to take their toddler out of the auditorium that day, but it wouldn’t be long before little Rajon would take that stage and many others.

“My husband said, ‘Find my baby somewhere to dance,’” Jonae said. “So we found her a place and signed her up. And it has taken us everywhere. I say, ‘We didn’t put her in dance. She put us in dance.’”

Thus began an incredible dance journey that just recently landed Rajon in a place even she never dreamed of. Last month the 21-year-old LaPlace native was one of 70 women and men who auditioned for the New Orleans Pelicans dance team. A week later, she learned she was one of the 30 who made the cut. This week she began the first week of intense, strenuous training.

“As I was leaving the practice on Tuesday, I just felt so blessed,” Rajon said. “It was the best first experience I’ve ever had.”

Rajon said she actually was ready to give up her lifelong dance career. After years of competitive dancing with Yvonne’s Directions in Dance, she graduated to the Riverside Academy dance team. From there she was a four-year member of the Southeastern Louisiana University dance squad.

“Dancing on the collegiate level was a job,” Rajon said. “It was a life experience. It’s very intense. I had an amazing coach who taught me things outside of dance that would help us throughout our lives. It was a great outlet for me. I was able to represent Southeastern.”

Rajon said she also picked up a little bit of sports knowledge along the way.

“We did everything from football games to basketball to baseball,” she said. “You have to stay engaged and follow the games. I really did learn a lot about the different sports.”

Rajon graduated from Southeastern in May with a degree in kinesiology with plans to become an occupational therapist. But then one of her former dance coaches called to tell her about the Pelicans auditions.

“I said, ‘I’ll think about it,’” she said. “I was really ready to give it up. I had done dance for so long and it requires so much. It’s a big toll on the body. Your body’s not supposed to do any of those things. I was ready to wipe my hands of it. Then the time came and I was just, like, you can either just settle for being regular or you can continue to push yourself to do things you’ve never done before. So, that’s what I get to do.”