Tom Schirmacher

“Come on baby, let’s do the twist” blast from the speakers. The crowd went wild. Is it the song that’s making the audience go crazy? Think again—it’s the very first thing the audience hears when Judson Laipply starts the infamous “Evolution of Dance.” The “Evolution of Dance” has over 81 million views to date for the comedic and memorable dance moves that claimed YouTube fame. So why was he here April 12th? Not just to dance but to motivate.

The Ohio native got his BA in Recreational Leisure from Bluffton University and hi s Master’s in Recreational Leisure from Bowling Green State University. Laipply has always been performing and likes to entertain people, doing theater and chorus in high school and performing in college as well. He really liked talking to and entertaining people and that got him into motivational speaking. The purpose of his lectures are “one, make you laugh, and two, make you think,” he says. Laipply also reiterates two main themes in his lectures: the power of choice, and the idea that life is change.

The Evolution of Dance came about after a conversation with a few friends, in regards to how dance has changed over the years. The change in the dance goes hand in hand with his theme of change. After purchasing music editing software, picking out a playlist of 12 songs, and creating the chorography, the rest was history. The popularity of the dance has even gotten him to perform at a few NBA finals games. Even so, his message is often ignored in all the hype. Unworried, Laipply related, “If people are interested, they’ll find out more about it.”

Most interestingly, he talked about how life changes all the time; there are times when we have control over the situation and times when we have no control whatsoever. If we don’t have any control over the situation (for example, with a plane delay), Laipply advises not to stress about it, just let it go. “The more stress you have, the quicker you die,” said Laipply, jokingly, but nonetheless trying to prove his point: stressing all the time isn’t good for anyone.

Laipply was at RIT for Connectology to speak to the audience about rolling with the punches and making the best of any situation. He started off with jokes that reflected his theme and then moved on to presenting a game called fast fingers. The game entailed joining up with a partner, throwing your hands out quickly, pulling them back in, and then adding the total number of fingers between both your partner and yourself correctly to win. The point of the exercise was to show everyone their power of choice, since the way to win quickly was to think of the number you would throw out, then just add the number your competition had.

Laipply is currently working on another dance that should be out within a couple of months.