“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 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.

Photo: Getty Images

“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 Lady Gaga 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.