“Parris Goebel is the modern Pablo Picasso.” So declared one user on X after weekend one of Coachella—or Gag-chella.
For those who saw Lady Gaga bring Mayhem to life in Coachella Valley, whether on the desert floor or through your TikTok FYP, it was a triumphant moment—a career-spanning, campy, artful return to form. When Gaga freed herself of her enormous, blood red hooped skirt and the dancing ensued for “Judas”? Things entered another dimension.
Undergirding the performance’s raw, primal energy was choreography by Parris Goebel, the artist, dancer, and all-around creative force. There was the frenetic, sensual body rolling for the new track “Garden of Eden,” the deathly chess battle for “Poker Face,” exorcism-like dance breakdowns, a tumble through a grave, and a horror-film-surgery sequence, as well as refreshed takes on classics like the otherworldly “Paparazzi” and joyful “Born This Way.”
“The category is…dance or die,” Gaga declared on stage.
“My heart is full of gratitude to be able to create with a powerhouse woman that knows no boundaries and believes in real authentic art,” Goebel wrote on Instagram on Wednesday. “The little weird theatre kid in me is so happy and got to dream the craziest dreams and see them come to life. Thank you @ladygaga for inspiring me every single day, for being so kind and caring, for giving us all a safe space to run free, and most importantly, for trusting me not only to choreograph but to creative direct this show with you! I am so grateful and so proud.”
The Parris Goebel school of dance is a case for pop transmogrification. Powerfully expressive, it utilizes the body in joint-twisting and skeletal-form-defying ways. Moves that could be standard sexy—a thrust of the hip, the shake of an ass with abandon—are subverted to become startling and alluringly strange. Goebel, who hails from South Auckland, New Zealand, incorporates moves from Polynesian culture and hip-hop into her signature style, finding inspiration in the work of Bob Fosse as much as in the stage presence of Prince and Missy Elliott.
She got her start early. By the time she dropped out of school at 15, Goebel was already winning local dance competitions and teaching classes. Then, in 2009, she founded the Palace Dance Studio in Auckland, which would go on to produce the Royal Family crew—three-time winners of the World Hip Hop Dance Championship.
At 19 Goebel’s big break came when she choreographed J.Lo’s 2012 Dance Again World Tour. She then did the still-iconic, MTV VMA–nominated video for Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” and his Purpose world tour; Ciara’s “Level Up”; Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj’s “Feelin’ Myself”; and Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty shows.
History-making moments kept coming. In 2023, she choreographed a pregnant Rihanna and 280 dancers for the Super Bowl halftime show; the “Work” section, in which the legion of dancers crawled like prowling animals toward the singer, went viral. Then, in 2024, Goebel created an electrifying sequence for “Sweet Honey Buckin’” during Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime performance; she left Coachella spellbound after Doja Cat moved like a deadly predator in body-enveloping blonde hair to “Demons”; and in June she oversaw the artistic direction and choreography for the star-studded spectacle that was Vogue World: Paris.
Then came Lady Gaga’s visuals for “Disease” and “Abracadabra,” their violent, demonic moments immediately translated to TikTok dances and dance-crew recreations. To many, it was a smart move by Gaga to leave her previous choreographer, Richy Jackson, for Goebel.
There is a raw, feminine strength to Goebel’s movement that is enlivening to watch, projecting power in every dancer’s snarl, dive, roll, limb slicing the air, or soul-leaving-body drop. It’s a sensibility that feels just right for pop’s generational players—and with Coachella weekend two just ahead, we can relish another chance to be gagged by the Dionysiac dance teachings of Parris Goebel.
