‘Wicked’ choreographer breaks down steps to viral ‘What Is This Feeling?’ dance

The musical sequence, and perhaps one of the most widely circulating clips online, sees Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) express the depths of their disdain for each other during their early days at Shiz University.

In the dance flooding TikTok, Glinda — then known as Galinda — marches with her school pals flanked behind her.

Scott says it was one of the first group scenes filmed, as the movie was primarily choreographed in sequential order. When he initially showed the moves to his team of dancers, they loved it. Grande gave her blessing, too, he says.

“She was like, ‘Oh, my God!’ That was one of the first things she’s seeing of the work — which was pressure on me, because I want her to feel taken care of in this film,” he says. “So if she thinks the choreography is not strong, and she’s a part of it, it can mess with people. So it’s important to deliver for them.”

The dance is meant to physically invoke feelings of frustration, he says. The 25 seconds of viral choreography comes at the very end of the song, as Glinda and Elphaba’s “loathing” reaches a fever pitch.

“They’re slapping on the books. The way that they twist their body, because they’re irritated by this woman. The thought of Elphaba is making them cringe,” Scott says of the sharp, staccato dance moves.

“Wicked” is filled with memorable dance sequences, including the tear-jerking Ozdust Ballroom duet, in which Glinda and Elphaba finally move from enemies to friends.

So why did this section go so viral?

“I think a big part of it is because it came from a place of being connected to the music,” Scott says. “I do think that tapping on the books gave a rhythm for people to become kind of musicians. And I think that level of fun is all part of it.

“When you’re watching it, it’s like, ‘I want to play in that space. I want to be one of those people in Glinda’s crew. And I want to become a part of the movie,'” he adds.

 One of Scott’s favorite interpretations that he’s seen so far has fittingly been from the Broadway cast of “Wicked.” The stage musical that inspired the 2024 and 2025 films has been running at the Gershwin Theatre since 2003 and currently stars Mary Kate Morrissey as Elphaba and Alexandra Socha as Glinda.

“Watching them re-create the choreography from the film that was a re-creation of what they created made me feel like I’m part of the family of ‘Wicked’ and not just the outsider that got to do the film,” Scott says.

Scott started working with “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu 15 years ago, including most recently on 2021’s “In the Heights,” based on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical of the same name. 

Scott choreographed the show-stopping number “96,000,” which featured dancers performing styles of dance inspired by Busby Berkeley, ballet, bone-breaking and more — all in a swimming pool.

Scott recalls the memorable way Chu asked him to be a part of “Wicked.” In March 2022, Chu surprised Scott with a hat from the Broadway musical and said, “You ready to choreograph ‘Wicked’?”

Then it was time to get to work on the monumental task at hand, Scott says.

Here’s how he pulled off some of the film’s most memorable dance sequences.

‘Dancing Through Life’

Scott says he leaned into each actors’ strengths. For instance, once he learned Jonathan Bailey, who plays Fiyero, did gymnastics as a kid, Scott incorporated the actor’s exceptional front walkover into the introduction of “Dancing Through Life.” 

That number, set in a library at Shiz University, features a physical wheel, known as a tornado wheel, that the actors dance on, slide off, climb up and more throughout the song.

“There was actually a question on whether or not they were going to let the actors in the space, because for insurance purposes,” Scott says.

For Ethan Slater’s role as Boq, Scott used the actor’s existing climbing skills from starring in Broadway’s “SpongeBob SquarePants” in the “Dancing Through Life” choreography.

“If (Slater) auditioned as a performer going into the tornado wheel, he would have booked the job,” he says. “It’s very rare you have an actor that can do all of that stuff, to music and the timing.”

Ozdust Ballroom duet

“Dancing Through Life” smoothly transitions into a party scene set off-campus at the “scandalocious” Ozdust Ballroom. While Glinda and Fiyero dance the night away, Elphaba arrives wearing a pointy black hat that Glinda had encouraged her to wear, becoming the laughingstock of the party.

Putting on a false confidence, Elphaba starts to dance alone in the middle of the room, before Glinda hesitantly joins her, learning the moves as they go. And with the popular girl’s buy-in, the rest of the attendees start dancing, too.

The secret sauce for the scene was to not teach the dancers the choreography that Elphaba and Glinda do in the center of the dance floor to make the moment feel organic.

“I want to make it believable. I hate when a movie in five seconds, someone does a move and everyone knows the move,” he says.

Erivo had been practicing the choreography for days. Grande, however, was introduced to it briefly.

“We taught her a very little bit of the movement. Then we just follow along. And she just went with it,” Scott says.

‘A Sentimental Man’

For those wondering, yes, it is indeed Jeff Goldblum tap dancing before his song “A Sentimental Man.”

“He knows how to tap. He’s a jazz musician. He’s a mover. That man is musically brilliant. I have video. It’s one of my favorite things I own, and I am going to keep it in my little vault,” Scott says. 

To first learn just how Goldblum could move, Scott put on a Frank Sinatra track and freestyled with Goldblum in the room.

“‘You got to give the people — rat-a-tat-a-tat — what they want.’ That’s him (tapping),” Scott says of Goldblum’s mini song and dance at the Emerald City palace.

“We got to set the record straight. And that’s him behind the curtain,” Scott adds. “That is 100% Mr. Goldblum, national treasure at its finest, dancing his face off.”