ILL-A•bil•i•ty [‘il-ə-ˈbi-lə-tē] –
noun, plural ILL-A•bil•i•ties~
» An adaptation of power, strength, and creativity.
» Believing in yourself—to accomplish anything you set your mind to.
» Creating opportunities from challenges.
» Exploiting your capabilities—to live life to the fullest potential.
» NO EXCUSES, NO LIMITS.
ILL-Abilities is an international breaking dance crew comprised of seven active members from around the world.
Redouan “Redo” Ait Chitt (The Netherlands)
Sergio “Checho” Carvajal (Chile)
Jung Soo “Krops” Lee (South Korea)
Jacob “Kujo” Lyons (U.S.A)
Lucas “Perninha” Machado (Brazil)
Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli (Canada)
Samuel Henrique “Samuka” da Silveira Lima (Brazil)
This crew originated from an idea by Montreal-based dancer/motivational speaker Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli to create an all-star team of some of the world’s best differently-abled dancers. ILL-Abilities was officially formed in 2007 with four founding members Lazyegz, Tommy Guns, Kujo and Checho, whose goal was to compete and perform internationally, showing the world that anything is possible.
The crew gets its name from the standard in hip-hop culture of using a negative term to refer to something positive. Examples of this can be heard in studios or at competitions where dancers complement each other by saying they were bad, nasty or mean. The “ill” in ILL-Abilities does not refer to “sick” or “unwell” but rather to incredible, amazing, intricate, talent. Rather than seeing the negative limitations of “disability”, this crew focuses on their positive, or “ill” abilities.
Once they started performing together, the dancers of ILL-Abilities quickly realised their potential to inspire audience members with their positive attitudes and unique dance moves. The crew thus expanded their goal, presenting their motivational entertainment programmes and theatrical dance performances worldwide.