By Coln McGregor
Last night, in front of more than 900 guests at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM) presented its 40th Grand Prix, featuring an enhanced grant of $40,000 and a unique work of art worth $10,000, to the No Excuses No Limits Movement (Mouvement Pas d’Excuses Pas de Limites).
Luca « Lazylegz » Patuelli, the leader of this heavy crew of disabled dancers who appear around the world to spread hope and energy, was thrilled when news of the prize was announced.
Édith Cochrane, an electrifyingly dynamic host, was accompanied by Nathalie Maillé and Mathieu Bouchard, respectively the director general and president of CAM, as well as more than 900 distinguished guests from cultural, business and political circles, including Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Mayor of Montreal and Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture.
As the Conseil de arts de Montréal themselves put it in a press release announcing the wonderful news: Driven by a liberating, uplifting, and unifying force, the No Excuses No Limits Movement embodies a quest for the absolute and for transcendence. Vibrant with energy, generosity, and contagious pride, this dance troupe proves that difference becomes an exceptional engine of choreographic creation and an inclusive space for self-affirmation.
From the Invictus Games in Vancouver to the Paris Olympics, and including its NO LIMITS festival at the Maison de la culture Maisonneuve, this Movement celebrates atypical bodies that reject norms, reinvent and push the boundaries of breakdancing, as each performance becomes a unique, powerful, and essential field of expression.
The jury responsible for selecting the winning organizations of the 40th Grand Prix was chaired by Mathieu Bouchard, president of the CAM and vice-president, public policy and regulatory affairs at Deep Sky, and included Félix-Antoine Joli-Coeur, founding president at Volume 10, D. Kimm, founder and outgoing director of Les Filles électriques, of the Phénomena Festival and winner of the 39th Grand Prix, Djely Tapa, singer-artist and Kim Thúy, writer.
Says Café Graffiti pioneer Raymond Viger: It is with great pride that we learned of the recognition Luca Lazylegz Patuelli has just received. His hard work, courage, and determination over the past quarter-century deserve to be highlighted.
The Café Graffiti and Reflet de Société magazine have been following Luca for decades, and have been (and still are) supporting him and his No Excuses No Limits movement for several years now. Luca has even given breakdancing lessons to kids at the Café Graffiti’s studio in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve!
His best-selling, empowering children’s book, Funky, the duck with dancing dreams, is published in English and in French by our publishing arm, Éditions TNT, and is available on order from the Éditions TNT website. And as you can read in other The Social Eyes posts, we were there, profiling many of the dancers, when they performed at the Maison de la culture Maisonneuve last year.
Congratulations!
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