TAMPA, Fla. - No matter how tiny the dancer, you’re never too young to start performing.

Carla Thomas-Johnson can attest. She began dancing at the young age of seven. And she’s been performing ever since.

“It keeps you healthy, heart, body, soul and mind,” said Carla, owner of Cheer Girl Entertainment.

With over 25 years of choreography, cheering and event show production crammed onto a resume, Carla uses her skills to groom the next generation.

“For any professional sports organization within a 200 mile radius, I’ve had something to do with the entertainment product that was on the field,” she said.

Carla’s got street cred. She cheered for the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Tampa Bay Storm. She’s choreographed for the NFL, AFL, MLB and NHL. Now, she’s preparing these young ladies for a career in show business.

“I try to instill some of the things I know will take them far,” Carla said. “We make sure we are mentoring them because this job is really more about just the dance. Especially for professional sports, you are an ambassador first and an entertainer second.”

Not ready to hang up her own dance shoes, Carla still performs. She and her fellow former professional cheerleaders prepared a routine for the annual American Cancer Society’s Cattle Barron’s Ball.

Performing in front of a large crowd filled with the movers and shakers of Tampa Bay is nothing new for these ladies. They’re used to dancing on the biggest of stages.

Just like Carla, these young girls are drawn to the energy, to the spotlight, to the pull of performing.

“I like to dance a lot,” nine-year-old Erin Roberts said.

Regular elementary students by day, but when the music turns on and they get their counts, something takes over.

“I feel very special inside, so I really feel special when I’m dancing,” Erin said.

Erin and her fellow Quad members learn more than pirouettes, pliers and jumps. They’re developing a self confidence that will guide them in whatever they decide to do in the future.

“I want them to take away that tenacity is something that you cannot teach,” Carla said. “That with-it-ness is something that you cannot teach. That passion and drive and professionalism, to express yourself, to really just go for their dreams and their goals no matter what they are.”