Luca "Lazylegz" Patuelli Tour

In 2018, Neighbourhood Dance Works, The Arts and Culture Centre and 12 healthcare organizations teamed up to present Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli “No Excuses, No Limits” in a cross provincial tour.

This was an unprecedented collaboration between the performing arts and health sectors and it increased access for audiences of all ages and abilities along with health care workers, practitioners and artists to experience Luca's inspiring message first hand.

Luca Patuelli was born with Arthrogrypos is, a neuromuscular disorder affecting the bones and joints of his body. On this tour Luca shared his personal story through a charismatic, heartfelt presentation highlighting his successes and failures as a person with a disability who leads an incredibly full, internationally celebrated, dance career. The 60-minute presentation covered a range of topics, including: personal empowerment, autonomy, disability awareness, perspectives on overcoming adversity, and ways to assume leadership in one's live and community.

Through the effort of coming together, we witnessed the power of collaboration amongst partners who don't typically work together. From this project, we learned that the healthcare and medical fields crave more artistic cross-programming to shed light on critical perspectives in the disability field.

This project focused on a distinct dance practice not widely available in our Province, therefore the outreach helped us connect members of a very broad public, including individuals of all ages and abilities; youth in the public education system; dance studios, aspiring dance students and their teachers; anyone interested in inclusion, building healthy communities and specialized educators who are actively fostering expanded access to the arts through innovative programming. This work connected us with a broad group of individuals who live with disabilities and who avail of support through the regional Easter Seals office and Coalition of Persons with Disabilities. Many students (approx. 75) attended the free community workshop with their family members and caregivers. The result was a highly charged and exciting community celebration of bodies with disabilities in motion.

The presentation discussion forums that occurred during the week at MUN QEII, MUN Grad Programs in Medicine and Public Schools were highly attended with, approximately 1500 taking part in the St John’s outreach and approximately another 500 islandwide.