New Jersey man goes viral for breakdancing through town hall tax questions

A man from New Jersey has gone viral after breakdancing at a local town hall meeting.

Will Thilly, a resident of the township of Cranford, just outside New York City, on Tuesday took to the podium by performing a wordless robot dance. As he made his way up the aisle, he spun around and danced without music, leaving the room in an awkward silence. Some attendees looked away while others buried their faces in their hands.

Around 40 seconds into his performance, Thilly reached the podium, let out a sigh before jogging back to grab a bottle of water and some papers. The room remained silent until he spoke. “How was everyone’s weekend?” he asked, before adding that he had just returned from Monterrey, Mexico.

“There’s no pizza there … [but] it’s a beautiful town with lots of history,” Thilly said. He then asked: “Anyone here afraid of flying?”

Thilly proceeded to ask if anyone wanted to see him perform a backspin. When no one responded, he laid on the ground, lifted his feet and spun several times. As he danced, the crowd stayed silent, with some attendees looking uncomfortable. When he finished, Thilly gestured for applause but received none.

He then asked: “Why did our taxes go up so much?”

Thilly went on to reference a previous local referendum, questioning why the tax increase was apparently higher than anticipated. He said: “We were told the referendum was going to bring [taxes] up for an average household [by] around $400 … and mine went up like 900 bucks … We were told like that was from the schools or something? But the school referendum said it would only go up … like 400 bucks on an average assessed home … So I wanted to know why it went up, if it did that and what extra expenses were incurred by the schools that weren’t told to the public when we voted on that referendum?”

Following his remarks, Thilly gathered his papers and water bottle and moon-walked away from the podium, again in silence.

Thilly appears to have a track record of unconventional town hall appearances, frequently posting videos of them on Instagram in recent months. In these videos, he makes various calls for change.

At some town hall meetings, he urges wealthy developers to pay their own taxes rather than shifting the burden to residents. In others, he encourages residents to be friends with each other. And sometimes he stands at the podium saying nothing at all.

Currently, Thilly is running as an independent candidate for the Cranford township committee.

On his campaign website, he says: “I want to be elected to stop the resident-funded overdevelopment of Cranford … Our township meetings need to be about getting residents what they want, by offering clear answers to their questions, encouraging open discussion and dialogue, and ultimately working together for consensus and compromise. I will lead this effort.”

Thilly explained his dance, saying: “The dance was basically improv[,] decided almost on the spot. The main goal is to have our local government lighten up and look at the residence [sic] as friends and equals. The division and lack of community decision-making is what seems to be our biggest problem. Not to mention people are overly stressed and taking stuff too seriously and are not feeling free to speak and express themselves as they might wish.”

Citing his frustrations with tax breaks for wealthy developers, he added: “If elected, we would hope to change how our committee does business by making sure decisions are made by the residents as a community and not by three committee members who appear to be too overly influenced by their political party higher-ups.

“Possibly even more important than helping our town make wise financial decisions that the residents are aware and approve of; I hope to bring a friendly, stress-free way of our committee when dealing with the public. The more friends we become with each other, the better happier and less lonely all of us will be,” Thilly explained.