What’s up everyone? My name is Luca Patuelli. I am a 22 year old student studying marketing at Concordia University in Montreal Canada. I am also a professional breakdancer. What makes me different from the rest of the pack is that I was born with Arthrogryposis, a condition that affects the bone structure and muscular growth of the body. This condition can affect any part of the body hands, fingers, shoulders, knees, feet, ankles, etc…Fortunately my condition only affected me from the waste down so I basically have little muscle in my legs, but my arms are pretty strong and that’s how I adapt myself.I never let this disability stop me or slow me down from doing anything I want. I have always been active since I was young. I like to; swim, dive, ski, sail, drive, rock climb, skateboard and now I put my craze in breakdancing. I have been dancing for the past 7 years. My style consists of strength and what ever I do on the floor; I try to repeat the movements on my crutches. Since I have started I can say that I have experienced some incredible moments in my life. I am glad to say that I am living my dreams right now.
This past year in 2006 I have had the opportunity to travel all over North America. My promo video that can be viewed on my website www.lazylegz.com was leaked all through out the internet and since then I have had a lot of media attention. I had CBC, Much Music, Sony PSPs, and even the NBC “Today” Show do a little piece on me.
With these experiences from this past year it has inspired me to create a team with other disabled dancers. Right now I have not started anything official except for contacting the dancers and seeing whether they would be interested and available for this team.
Back in November I was invited to Paris, France to battle against another kid on crutches. His name is Bboy Houte, he is a dancer with one leg. Flying over to Paris I had no clue what to expect. I have never seen any video footage of him. I never battled against another dancer similar to me. Wow, was he amazing! It was a crazy experience, and I learned a lot. I got to admit I was incredibly nervous because I was in a town in another country by myself, with the other dancer having home team advantage the crowd was difficult to control to my favor. Though, I am glad to have had this experience because I was able to see how someone else with a disability adapts his dancing style, and that is the whole point of the creation of my team. We will call ourselves Ill-Abilities Crew and the purpose is to learn from each other and inspire the world by proving them anything is possible.
Well this is my story (in short), thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please be on the look out for future adventures.
Happy New Years and all the best in 2007!
Peace,
Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli
