Now, the Cary native is one-sixth of a dance group competing for $100,000 on a hit MTV show.

Saltare is one of the top contenders on America's Best Dance Crew, a reality dancing competition for street-style dance aficionados.

The crew is made up of members of the USA Jump Rope All-Star Team - including two from Wake County - who have wowed judges and audiences with their slickly choreographed, hip-hop-infused rope routines.

Perez, 23, and Brittany Fortier, 20, of Wake Forest, are both on the crew, which formed a few months ago in order to compete on the show.

"We didn't expect to make it past the auditions because it was such a challenging thing that we were trying to do," Perez said. "We're doing something that nobody's seen before."

America's Best Dance Crew is in its fifth cycle, after four ratings-friendly seasons. The show is widely respected for spotlighting grassroots, local dance crews who incorporate hip-hop dance techniques- breakdancing, popping and locking. Each week, the crews are given a challenge for a new routine, such as adding props or a different style of music. They must perform a new routine each week, and judges decide who moves on.

Saltare, which means "jump" in Latin, qualified to the next round of competition after performing a high-energy routine on a Feb. 4 regionals show. They'll be competing again Thursday night.

But they've got an uphill battle, Perez said.

Performing with jump ropes makes coming up with compatible routines more difficult, and the group risks being perceived as a novelty act.

"The other crews didn't take us seriously at first," he said. "But we just showed them something and as soon as we did that, they were like, 'Oh my gosh, that's the craziest thing I've ever seen.' "

Feedback from the show's three judges was unanimously favorable after their first performance.

"That timing - I recognize that if ya'll mess that up, the whole thing is done," hip-hop singer and judge Omarion said during a recent episode.

Perez added: "It was a surprise element at first. Now our goal is to try and keep that up. We want to make sure that we can continue to show them things they haven't seen before."

Competitors on the show often battle on behalf of their hometown, trying to win "street cred" for their region. Because one-third of Saltare's members are from North Carolina, they're gladly representing the Tar Heel state.

For Perez, an N.C. State University graduate who co-owns Tri-Force Jump Rope Gym in Morrisville with his mom, the goal is to raise jump roping's profile.

"Skateboarders and other dancers have more commercial opportunities, where people pay you money to do your thing," he said. "There aren't a lot of opportunities for jumpers."

Perez started jumping when he was eight after he saw a team perform at his elementary school, West Lake Elementary in Apex.

"I was awful, really terrible," he said.

But he practiced and started competing while he was a student at Athens Drive High School, dropping baseball when he got serious. He joined USA Jump Rope after he graduated.

His mom, Sh'ay Perez of Cary, became a coach and opened Tri-Force after her son started to compete.

"When he jumps, I'm no longer a coach. I'm always a mom," she said. "Sometimes I feel like I can't breathe when I'm watching him."

The pair teach classes at Tri-Force when Tyler Perez isn't traveling with the USA jump rope team, performing all over the country and encouraging kids to get more active.

While Tyler Perez performs in Burbank, Calif., Sh'ay Perez teaches alone, crossing her fingers for her son and the rest of the team.

"I hope they can keep it up because they are spectacular athletes," she said.

Tyler Perez said the team is doing their best, rehearsing long hours for the upcoming show.

"Every single night, we're exhausted," he said. "But we've never had more fun."