Dance professor makes an impact on his students at NSU

By Brielle Aguayo •

Through his dance company, Alonzo Williams, adjunct professor for the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts, gave Bianka Texidor, 2024 NSU alum, a scholarship to cover her tuition at NSU.

“Bianka is one of my mentees. She’s more like family,” Williams said.

Elana Lanczi, director of the dance program and associate professor in DCMA, introduced Texidor to Williams.

“I was talking to Elana about scholarship opportunities even before he came around,” Texidor said. “She was advising me to talk to him and see about scholarship opportunities that he may have because of his company.”

Williams graduated from NSU in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in dance. He then went on to complete his master’s also at NSU in Student Affairs.

After he earned his two degrees at NSU, he received another master’s at Hollins University in dance performance studies.

Six years ago, he created his own dance company.

“The company is called the AlonzoWill Creative Dance Company. My name is Alonzo Williams, but the ‘will’ doesn’t actually mean my last name. When I first started the company and I was making the logo, I put a greater-than sign over the will, and ‘will’ actually means ‘God’s will’ is bigger than me,” Williams said.

Within his company, his goal is to expand community outreach through art initiatives and creativity within diversity. Williams has presented dance pieces with students at Art Basel and at NSU.

He said being an NSU alumnus gave him the ability to connect with students.

Texidor is grateful to have had him as a dance professor during her time as a student.

“I think he makes a huge impact in the people around him, even if it’s like the smallest thing to him. He’s been making a big impact within the dance community at NSU,” Texidor said.

Williams is now a adjunct professor in DCMA and also works as a campus visit experience coordinator in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

“I think his ability to connect to young people is really special. I think he is really great at just inspiring people to push past their limits, and also the subject matter that he tackles is really important and hard to talk about sometimes,” Lanczi said.

Williams has done multiple dance pieces that focus on serious subjects, like social justice, racial injustice, immigration community and equality. One piece that was unforgettable for Sara Menco, junior communication major, is “I SEE SCREENS: THE GHOSTLY GRASP OF TECHNOLOGY” at DanceWorks in 2023

“It is so dynamic and we were able to immerse ourselves in a role of truly being consumed by our technology while still conveying the tiredness of it, and it also combined theatrical aspects,” Menco said.

Williams has been able to connect with many students through dance and be a mentor to them even through their personal lives.

For example, he has had a personal connection with Menco ever since she was in high school. Williams was her dance teacher and is a brother figure in her life, Menco said. Also, he is married to her sister, Jhocelyn Menco.

“He became my dance teacher and later on because I’m a Christian and he’s Christian, he felt that God was calling him to be a brother in my life. So, due to the hardships that I was experiencing with my mom and my sister, he became a family member,” Menco said.

When Williams introduced Menco to the university, she found out about the dance program. She is a communication major and a dance minor.

“I took contemporary dance techniques with him last fall and it is not weird to take a class with him. It’s actually kind of soothing because I know his demeanor already,” Menco said.

Williams’s passion for dance is combined with always having a powerful message behind what pieces he creates. He will continue to spread awareness as he is an activist for social injustice, and he wants dancers to know they have the potential to succeed.

“I just want people to understand that they’re capable of many things, and don’t compare yourself to others because you’ve been given a gift. You’ve been given a discipline. You’ve been given an ability, and there can never be another one of you,” Williams said.