In the heart of Evil it’s the friendship between Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), who will eventually become the Wicked Witch, but it took a dance to finally get there. The two budding witches weren’t always friends. In fact, they got off on the wrong foot when they met at Shiz University. What doesn’t help is that the rest of the school puts Glinda on a pedestal and hates Elphaba because of her green skin.
This all changes after Glinda’s prank on Elphaba at the Ozdust Ballroom goes south. While Glinda takes the low road, setting Elphaba up to be humiliated, Elphaba takes the high road and puts Glinda in Madame Morrible’s magic class, something her roommate couldn’t achieve on her own, as Glinda can’t do magic in Evil yet. In an attempt to make amends, Glinda joins Elphaba on the dance floor and from there a beautiful friendship develops that becomes the emotional core of Evil, which broke a huge box office record for musicals with its gross of over $150 million.
Elphaba and Glinda’s dance in Wicked is where their friendship begins
At the Ozdust Ballroom, Glinda sees the error of her ways
After realizing that she is the butt of the joke, Elphaba considers leaving. However, Elphaba decides not to do this and performs a unique dance. Her classmates continue to laugh at her, but Glinda and Fiyero don’t participate. Instead, Fiyero comments on how Elphaba doesn’t care what others think, but Glinda knows this is far from the truth. In reality, Elphaba cares, but pretends she doesn’t.
Ariana Grande’s Glinda, in an attempt to make amends, joins Elphaba on the dance floor, imitating her dance moves. This is a great sign of humility from Glinda, who cares so much about appearances. Elphaba, as her roommate, knows this, so Seeing Glinda put all of this aside for her means the world.
The two dance, with Glinda following Elphaba’s lead. Along with this, given Glinda’s popularity, she inspires her other classmates to stop laughing at Elphaba. For the first time, Elphaba doesn’t feel alone. For Glinda, who is the source of much of Elphaba’s isolation and torment at Shiz University, being the one who truly sees Elphaba for who she is means even more to Elphaba, leading to a tearful embrace where Elphaba shows vulnerability to Glinda for the first time. .
Is Elphaba’s dance choreography in Wicked significant?
Elphaba’s dance is a reflection of her perseverance and pain
There are a few reasons why Elphaba’s dance is significant. Upon discovering that she has been invited to the Ozdust Ballroom to be ridiculed, Elphaba could leave, but she doesn’t. Instead of, she takes center stage – where everyone can see – and performs her interpretive dance.
Elphaba is intentionally putting on a show in an attempt to prove to all those who laugh at her that they will not get the better of her. They won’t force her to be anything other than herself. This also works, for the most part, as many of the characters, like Fiyero, believe that she doesn’t care what others think, but Glinda realizes this.
While putting on a show, Elphaba doesn’t try to make fun of herself. She is carefully thinking about every move, overcoming the pain she is feeling through her dancing. Despite saying nothing, your dance speaks for itself, even if Glinda is the only one who knows what she’s really going through.
How Elphaba and Glinda’s dance from Wicked is different from the Broadway musical
Broadway’s Wicked Treats Elphaba’s Dancing More Like a Joke
In the Broadway show, when Elphaba enters the Ozdust Ballroom, she immediately realizes that she has been the victim of Glinda’s prank. Just like Elphaba, by Cynthia Erivo, the Broadway version does an interpretive dance that catches everyone’s attention. However, in the Broadway show, this is played more as a jokebut in Jon M. Chu’s film he wanted to spend time on this scene and treat it with more vulnerability, as revealed by Evil director of photography Alice Brooks in a Variety article.
“[Chu] he wants her to have time to act out that scene, to feel the emotion of that scene, and for everyone to watch it… One of the other visual themes throughout the film is: ‘What does it feel like to be looked at? So as she walks down the stairs, how do you feel when everyone is laughing at you?”
Elphaba’s mockery is not intended as a joke to the audience. Instead, viewers are supposed to empathize with her as she is humiliated in front of everyone. After all, this is Elphaba’s story, and Evil Director Jon M. Chu worked hard to ensure the narrative focused on Elphaba.
One way to achieve this is to stay in Elphaba’s dance and see how Elphaba processes this humiliation. Even when Glinda enters, the scene is experienced with empathy, and not for laughs, as it is in Evil Broadway show. This is a vulnerable time for Elphabathus changing the dance to make it a more emotional scene than a comedic one achieves this, thus leading to one of the most powerful scenes in this jaw-dropping musical adaptation. Reorienting the narrative to be more about Elphaba, as was done in this scene, is also the change to Evil Chu is more proud.