Year: Sophomore
Major: Neurobiology, Pre-Med
Hometown: Harlingen, TX
Member Since: Fall '08


America Gonzales is a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin and this is her second year on the UT Dance Team. America is from Harlingen, Texas where she was a student of Harlingen High School South and participated in the Southern Stars Dance Team. Her dance experience began at the age of 8 where she trained at the Deborah Case Dance Academy, home of the Rio Grande Ballet in McAllen, Texas. Director Deborah Case focuses and provides an enormous amount of opportunities that enrich her students’ love for dance and joy in serving the community. With summer workshops lead by former Prima Ballerina Absoluta Galina Mesentseva, Russian ballerina Irina Vakhromeeva, ballet master Alex Ossadnik, and Joffrey Ballet’s Willie Shives, America’s strengths as a dancer come from training with these teachers and most of all from Deborah Case herself. Ballet is America’s favorite style of dance. It was only until she became a member of the Southern Star Dance Team in highschool that she learned other styles of dance such as hip-hop and jazz. Texas Dance has given her the opportunity to challenge herself with a variety of dance techniques/styles and as well as just have fun. Other than dance, America has dedicated herself to her academics. She is a Neurobiology major who hopes to attend medical school upon graduation so that she may be a pediatrician one day. Since her first year at UT, America enjoys participating in the Freshman Research Initiative where she does research as a part of the Viral Evolution Stream. She is a second year member of Women in Medicine and as well as Christians on Campus. This year she is focusing on finding opportunities to volunteer her time at a hospital/clinic or serve as a mentor/tutor for children. She is excited about the great potential and talent this year’s dance team has with competing in the NDA national competition in 2010.