"For Good" Wicked Pole Dance by Val Oliphant
This performance is dedicated to all the people I’ve fallen out of touch with. Even if we don’t talk anymore, you helped make me who I am today and I feel forever grateful for your presence in my life.
“So much of me is made of what I learned from you, you’ll be with me like a handprint on my heart.”
When I was cast as the solo performer for the song “For Good” in Pole Pressure’s annual Pole-usical, I was so excited! This is one of my favorite Wicked songs, and was even my senior high school yearbook quote. Choreographing this piece, I wanted to show how people you are close to leave their mark on you. You end up picking up the slang and mannerisms of those you spend time with. Even years later, I notice myself saying or doing things I absorbed from close friends that I no longer see. To show this, I divided the song into three main sections- Glinda’s section, Elphaba’s section, and their duet. I choreographed unique combos for each character and then combined moves from their individual sections for their duet, weaving the same moves into a new combination.
I challenged myself to revisit some difficult pole moves that I hadn’t practiced as much since the pandemic, such as an aerial shoulder mount (a call back to my Zoya pole piece to remind myself that I’m still strong). I wanted to stay in the moment and enjoy holding my poses instead of quickly flowing from one move to the next. One of the sad parts of getting older is that you grow apart from others, even best friends. You move away, you grow in different ways. Looking back on those friendships can be painful, but also nostalgic- that bittersweet feeling of lost friendship. I tried to capture that longing feeling in my movements.
In designing my costume, I combined elements of Elphaba and Glinda. I started with a green asymmetrical swimsuit as my Elphaba base. I sewed a stretchy pink velvet halter top for my Glinda base and lengthened the swimsuit bottoms into a more full coverage look. I used pink rose, cherry blossom, and black leaf appliques to integrate the green and pink tops with each other and embellish the bottoms, inspired by the lyric “we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them, and we help them in return.” The extra scraps from the applique were made into a hairpiece. I finished the look with a sheer black half skirt for a witchy vibe.
It was so inspiring seeing everyone else perform and pour their hearts into their dance. My high school self would be so proud to go from sleeping surrounded by signed Broadway posters to signing my very own back stage. You can watch my full performance below: