Megan Navarro
HOUSTON — After graduating in 2021, Kierra Evans, a former officer of the Hays Highsteppers, is taking a different kind of stage: the sidelines of a National Football League (NFL) team, the Houston Texans.
Evans has been in the dance world for the majority of her life, beginning competing when she was 7 years old and doing studio dance from elementary through high school.
“I was one of those kids that was always trying everything to see what could pique my interest and what was really something that I wanted to do with my life. I feel like, as I started doing more dance and actually getting into more serious classes, it really was what I love to do and what I wanted to do. It just really did outshine any other sport [and] any other thing that I was trying,” Evans explained.
At Hays High School, she was a member of the drill team, known as the Hays Highsteppers, where she was an officer and co-captain, before she graduated in 2021. She explained that the leadership skills she developed at the high school level helped her prepare for what was next.
“You're on a team, it's a team environment, but it really is up to you how successful you are in that environment and what you can handle. Having that independence and leadership in high school, learning how to handle things and deal with my emotions and all that. Dance is not just like physical, it's emotionally draining. It's mentally draining,” she said. “So, being able to learn how to handle that and then, moving up to that higher level where, like, in college, they are brutally honest with you, they are going to tell you how it is … It helps me learn how to have a strong mind, believe in myself and know what I am capable of.”
Per the recommendation of one of her former dance teachers, Evans went on to attend Sam Houston State University and was on the Orange Pride Dance Team, which has won a total of 14 national championships as of September 2025.
“After my first year, I really did get the hang of things and I became a captain on the team and was part of the leadership team during my time there. I really did like [Orange Pride], it was such a huge part of my life and my identity,” she shared. “I cared so much about the organization and wanted to do everything that I could to make us the best.”
Following her graduation from Sam Houston this year, Evans is now balancing being an assistant dance director at Klein Oak High School in Houston and her rookie year of being a cheerleader for the Houston Texans football team.
She credits her college coach and her high school studio director, Kristina Weinman, for inspiring her to want to educate the younger generations. She continued, stating that she knew that she wanted to teach and bring her experiences to kids, watching them grow, not only as dancers, but people outside of the studio.
“Throughout high school and college, I definitely started dipping my toe more into choreographing, working with younger girls and teaching classes. The more I got into that, the more I was like, ‘Wow. As much as I enjoy dancing, I really do love teaching kids,’” she said. “Like seeing kids accomplish things, helping kids get something that they probably never thought that they were ever going to get. That was just such an amazing thing for me.”
Knowing that she wanted to continue cheer and dance at the professional level for the NFL, while also staying in Texas, Evans had two options: Houston Texans or Dallas Cowboys. She started to attend some of the clinics that were put on by both teams and, for her, the Texans were the best fit.
She explained that it felt like a sisterhood, knowing a few members on the team already — one of those being a former dance teacher and another a former high school teammate.
Though the audition process can be nerve-wracking and stressful with multiple rounds, including video submissions, interviews and in-person tryouts, Evans said that it was as great as it could have been. She added that even the tryout environment felt more like she was taking a class with alumni who were there to provide support as needed.
Looking to the future, Evans said that — even though she has been in a leadership capacity in both high school and college — she is wanting to just enjoy the moment and take it all in while being a Texans cheerleader, as well as in her current job position. For her, she is loving life right now.
“I really am just trying to enjoy this and take in this experience for however many years I decide to do it. Just with my teaching, like, I love where I am now. I'm so grateful to be at the school there; the team that I get to help direct is so incredibly talented. So, I really did luck out in that factor. I hope to, one day, be a director of a team myself, like that would be such an amazing thing to have my own team,” Evans said. “But as of right now, I really do love where I'm at and love what I've accomplished and the people that I get to work with, so I just definitely kind of take it all in, enjoy everything and just kind of let it go how it goes.”
She concluded that, for the younger generations who may want to pursue a similar path as her, the biggest thing that she has learned over the years is that mental health is important. The mind is a powerful thing and, at the end of the day, Evans emphasized that person’s biggest cheerleader is oneself.
“You have to be your biggest cheerleader. You have to be your biggest advocate because your biggest critic is yourself, especially as a dancer. Any dancer knows you are going to be your hardest critic,” she said. “You're going to sit there and nitpick every single thing about yourself if it's truly what you're serious about, but you have to learn to give yourself grace. You have to learn that you're not going to be perfect at everything. You're not going to get everything right away, but if it's what you want to stick with and what you're passionate about, it will come.”
