Chachi Gonzales

Olivia "Chachi" Gonzales
Chachi Gonzales in 2012
Born	Olivia Irene Gonzales (1996-01-23) January 23, 1996 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Residence	Houston, TX Los Angeles, CA
Occupation	Dancer, choreographer, actress
Years active	2011–present
Parents	David L. Gonzales Guadalupe Gonzales
Family	Dominique Gonzales (sister) Chris Gonzales (brother) Leslie Gonzales (sister) David Gonzales (brother)
Website
Dotheadsbychachi.com

Olivia Irene Gonzales (born January 23, 1996), better known as Chachi Gonzales, is an American dancer, choreographer and occasional actress. She is a member of the dance crew I.aM.mE, which won the sixth season of America's Best Dance Crew in 2011.^[1][2]

Life and career

Olivia Irene "Chachi" Gonzales was born in Houston, Texas. She is of Hispanic descent. At the age of 6, Gonzales enrolled at a local dance studio and was trained as a ballet dancer. Three years later at the age of 9, she witnessed for the first time a hip hop dance crew at a dance event she attended. Coincidentally, one of the crews there was Marvelous Motion, whose members (Phillip Chbeeb, Di Zhang and Brandon Harrell) were to become her fellow crew members in I.aM.mE, the dance crew she later joined. Upon learning of this new dance style, Gonzales became instantly hooked and decided to take up hip hop dancing from then on. She then enrolled at a middle school where hip hop was one of the styles taught. Very shy at first, months of hard training passed with Gonzales honing and developing her skills, when she was eventually asked by her dance instructor – impressed and with so much confidence in Gonzales – to lead the group she was being taught in. Shortly after, her mother located the Marvelous Motion Studios and enrolled her in a few classes. From then on, Gonzales continued to dance as much as possible almost everyday, thus becoming a true passion.

In 2010, after the disbandment of Marvelous Motion, the three members Phillip "Pacman" Chbeeb, Di "Moon" Zhang and Brandon "747" Harrell held an audition to create a brand new crew. Added to the lineup were the three new members Olivia "Chachi" Gonzales, Emilio "Millie" Dosal, and Jana "Jaja" Vaňková, forming I.aM.mE,^[3] in preparation for America's Best Dance Crew: Season of the Superstars. Gonzales is the youngest member of I.aM.mE.

America's Best Dance Crew

Workshops and tours

As well as in the US, throughout 2011–present Gonzales has taught many dance classes and workshops in various other countries around the world, sometimes together with other members of I.aM.mE. Countries she taught classes in were the Philippines, Belgium, Russia, the UK, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Poland, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Thailand and India.

Personal life

"Chachi" is the nickname given to Gonzales by her family when she was young. It is short for "muchachita", which means "little girl" in Spanish.

She is a self-confessed fan of Justin Bieber.

In 2011, Gonzales and her family created a brand of apparel and sweatpants called ChachiMomma.^[4]

Her own clothing line, Dotheads By Chachi, was released in January 2014.^[5]

Awards and appearances

Gonzales was one of the backup dancers for the Tribute to Britney Spears as part of the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, and she was named "Teen Choreographer of the Year" at the World of Dance 2012 Industry Awards.^[6] She made a dance appearance with I.aM.mE in the Disney TV programme, Shake It Up,^[7][8] and also appeared in Adam Irigoyen's music video of the song, "School Girl".^[9]

In June 2013, she choreographed the dance to the second theme song of the fashion doll franchise Monster High, in "We Are Monster High".^[10]

She is to take the lead role in the upcoming 2014 feature film The Legend of Dark Horse County, directed by Shawn Welling.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chachi Gonzales.

• Official website
• Chachi Gonzales on Twitter
• Chachi Gonzales on Facebook
• Chachi Gonzales's channel on YouTube