Who are TikTok’s Motivational Warriors? Everything you need to know about the viral dance troupe
YouTube: The Ellen ShowMotivational Warriors are all over TikTok right now, a new dance troupe that are combining killer moves with some much-needed positive affirmations.
The dance group, which is made up of three professional dancers, dub themselves the Motivational Warriors. They have exploded on TikTok since they started posting content in September 2020.
What do the Motivational Warriors do?
The concept of the Motivational Warriors is simple. All of their videos and dance routines are based around a positive message: ranging from the more serious like imposter syndrome to the more comedic such as how to deal with family during Thanksgiving.
Combining these positive affirmations with upbeat music, synchronized moves and spin-class-like vibes, their content serves to entertain, energize and inspire their audience.
With views on their videos peaking at nearly 4 million, it is clear that their content is resonating with a lot of people. Their most popular video to date is one inspiring people to carry on with ‘No Nut November’, which currently stands at 3.9 million views. Amassing a total of 6.9 million likes on their content, it looks like the group’s success has only just begun.
Who are the Motivational Warriors?
The founder and lead dancer of the Motivational Warriors is Jason Rodelo. As well as being a dancer, he is also a professional comedian. All of the Motivational Warriors’ content is uploaded to his TikTok and Instagram accounts, which have 363.3k followers and 1o9k followers respectively.
The second member of the troupe is Teens React star Will Simmons, who was a backing dancer for Miranda Cosgrove as a child. Rex Kline rounds off the trio, and he works not just as a professional dancer, but also as a choreographer and dance teacher.
How Motivational Warriors started
In an appearance on The Ellen Show on Friday 26 March, the trio gave some insight into how the idea for the viral dance troupe came about.
In a conversation with guest host tWitch, Jason said he was inspired to start making these videos after going through a “depressive spell” this time last year: needing something to get him out of his “quarantine slump”, he said he wanted to combine his dance and comedy into one and “hit up [his] good homies” Will and Rex to join him.
He admits he “didn’t think anything of it” and was blown away not just by the scale of the videos’ popularity, but the overwhelmingly positive response to them.
Noting how the videos touched on mental health, Jason suggested that the content’s appeal is that it is a”reflection of what we went through and what the world went through” amid the current health crisis.
Rex also pointed out how the videos came at a perfect time where the dance industry was being stilted by current restrictions. Admitting that he was “struggling a lot after having [his] livelihood taken away from [him] out of [his] control”, the dancer explained that getting together with Jason and Will to do this not only helped them to generate an income, but also a good relationship with each other.
“Especially right now, human connection is a bit odd and we’ve been inside for quite a long time, so also getting to develop a friendship [with Jason and Will] was really important for right now,” he said.
