Chris Olwage
Dancer, 26
Auckland
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Chris is a fitness instructor and personal trainer who only
started dancing four years ago. He entered NZGT to show New Zealand
that anyone can realise their dreams, no matter what their size,
shape, gender or age.
South African born Chris is a true inspiration a self-confessed
former fat, introverted child turned muscular Amazon!
By the time he turned 14 he weighed a hefty 129kg and was
subjected to merciless, ongoing verbal and physical abuse at
school.
"It was so bad I used to try and hide immediately the bell went at
the end of the day so the bullies couldn't find me because, of
course, I was too big and slow to run away from them," he
says.
The bullying resulted in him developing clinical childhood
depression, which he suffered from until his parents finally
decided to uproot the family and move to New Zealand in 2002.
Still, it wasn't until he turned 20 that Chris felt strong enough
to turn his life around. He read up about nutrition, devised a low
fat eating plan for himself, joined his first gym and after a lot
of hard work finally reached his goal weight.
To this day he remains immensely, and justifiably, proud of
himself.
The one time junk food addict now works as a fitness instructor at
Auckland University. He's also a part-time dance instructor, boasts
a Bachelor of Performing Arts from Unitec after completing three
years of contemporary dance training, is a qualified gymnastics
coach AND a Karate and Kemp Gung-fu enthusiast!
After seeing the hit all-male revue 'Men in Tutus', ballet was the
next style he tackled. "Watching men en pointe is the best thing
ever!"
In 2010 he won a ballet scholarship and has since performed works
for the likes of top NZ choreographers Neil Ieremia and Michael
Parmenter.
Chris' other passion in life is as an oil painter so talented he
has eight artworks on show at the prestigious James Wallace Arts
Trust in Auckland.
He shares his very noisy home on Auckland's North Shore with a
vast selection of birds.
Check out Chris' audition below:
