The Adaptive Outreach club is aiming to promote disability awareness on campus and provide an entertaining evening by hosting the performance of the Ill Abilities dance crew.
The free show will be held from 8:30 to 10:30 tonight in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Heritage Hall.
Ill Abilities is a break dance crew that is comprised of five members who each have some type of physical disability. The crew’s original style of motivational entertainment integrates a dynamic combination of dancing and individual narratives.
“We all have different stories we will be sharing. but together we transit the message NO EXCUSES NO LIMITS to another level,” Ill Abilities member Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli wrote in an email.
According to Patuelli, the crew started out with the objective of forming a super crew of top-level break-dancers with disabilities to compete on an international circuit.
“After a couple performances and battles, we noticed people were being affected in a positive way with the way we dance,” Patuelli wrote.
After seeing Patuelli perform at Penn State solo last spring, the current Adaptive Outreach Club President Ryan Cusack said he knew he wanted to bring back the whole crew and help spread the positive message they convey.
The club’s primary goal with the event is to promote disability awareness on campus, Cusack (junior-kinesiology) said.
“A disability doesn’t have to be viewed as a disability,” Ability Athletics Coach and Club Adviser Teri Jordan said.
Jordan said she believes it is important to focus on what people can achieve rather than what their disability limits them to do.
She also said any student can benefit and learn from the crew’s mission of “No Excuses, No Limits.”
Cusack said he thinks although people face unique difficulties in life, everyone can relate to the notion of overcoming challenges. He said the way the crew connects the dancing to their personal stories is inspiring.
“People should expect to be entertained and motivate,” Patuelli wrote. “We offer a high energy dynamic show that will make you laugh cry and dance out of your seat.”
