Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” video turns an inner struggle into a dance battle between two versions of Gaga, staged through shadow, light and a large ensemble. Gaga co-directed with choreographer Parris Goebel and Bethany Vargas. Their process joined choreography to camera, lighting and set design, while keeping the dancing visible rather than cutting away from it too often.
Who directed the “Abracadabra” video?
Lady Gaga, Parris Goebel and Bethany Vargas directed the video. Goebel also served as choreographer. The video premiered during a commercial break in the February 2, 2025 Grammy Awards broadcast, according to Post Magazine’s February 5, 2025 report.
The three collaborators brought different parts of the production together: Gaga’s pop-video ambition and character concept, Goebel’s choreography and direction, and Vargas’s work shaping the visual story and coordinating it with production design.
What story does the dance tell?
The video frames its action as a clash between “Mistress of Mayhem” and “Virgin Gaga.” The opposed figures make the song’s internal conflict visible: dark against light, and one side of the self against another. In Refinery29’s February 20, 2025 interview, Gaga described the song in terms of the magic of the night, friends and people who help you keep going, alongside a struggle with inner demons.
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Goebel said the concept drew on the different personalities in Gaga’s world and put two sides of her in continuing conflict on the dance floor. She also connected that conflict to fighting for one’s place in a competitive world. Refinery29 describes the sequence as a 44-person dance battle; that is the publication’s reported count.
Vargas offered a complementary interpretation in a February 19, 2025 interview with Onepointfour: “At its core, the storyline is a battle between dark and light and the challenges with in your own self. It’s also a celebration of community, brought to life through the power and unity of these incredible dancers.” The competing characters supply the conflict; the dancers’ collective force makes community part of the resolution.
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How was the choreography made?
The choreography was developed in dialogue with the rest of the visual design, rather than treated as movement added after the sets and lighting were settled. Vargas said Gaga arrived at their first call with printed styling and makeup references. Stylists Peri Rosenzweig and Nick Royal already had sketches and looks for the team to build on. The choreography was then workshopped to meet particular lighting cues and elements of the set, and continued changing through production and onto the set, she told Onepointfour.
Gaga also gave Goebel room to contribute beyond choreography, including to the creative direction and decisions about how to film the movement. For Goebel, that meant the camera had to serve the performance. “When we were shooting, we knew we didn’t want to cut away too much — we wanted to focus on the art of the dance, which is really rare in music videos,” she told Refinery29.
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That approach mattered because the team had many dance sequences to capture in limited time. Holding on the movement could make the choreography legible as a performance, while lighting and set cues helped distinguish the opposing sides and shape where the dancers moved.
How did the camera, lighting and sets shape the shoot?
Vargas recounted Gaga’s concise direction: “One of the first things she said was I want to make a pop video.” The team’s response was not to make the concept less theatrical, but to make its performance and visual contrasts work together. In Post Magazine’s production report, the dancers around Gaga are described as monochromatic black and white, reinforcing the “Dance or Die” battle and the video’s light-and-dark contrast. Post also compares the visual tone to Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria; that is the magazine’s comparison, not a confirmed statement of influence from the directors.
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Post reports a two-day shoot using three cameras. It does not identify camera models, lenses, formats, frame rates or particular editing techniques, so those details cannot be established from the published production account. The available description supports a picture of a tightly scheduled, multi-camera dance shoot, not a more specific technical breakdown.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is documented about editing and production credits?
Post Magazine reports that editor Sofia Kerpan cut the roughly four-and-a-half-minute video in Adobe Premiere toward the end of 2024. Kerpan identified the number of dancers, the choreography, the two-day schedule and footage from three cameras as editorial challenges.
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Directors’ Library’s credit listing names Roisín Audrey Moloney and Xiaolong Liu as directors of photography, Wesley Goodrich as production designer, and Mary Florence Brown as art director. It also lists Deannie O’Neil as executive producer; Anthony Delzio for special effects; Rosenzweig and Nick Royal for wardrobe styling; Frederic Aspiras as key hair stylist; Sarah Tanno as key makeup artist; Copelan Cash and Kerpan as editors; Matt Keith for sound design and mixing; and Yura Karikh, Igor Eyth and Dante Pasquinelli as colorists. The listing says the video was filmed in Los Angeles. These are database credits; Post Magazine is the source for the shoot and editing details above.
What did the behind-the-scenes feature and campaign include?
Mastercard sponsored the campaign and announced the video collaboration on February 3, 2025. Its newsroom release described behind-the-scenes clips on the brand’s social channels about Gaga’s choices in hair, makeup, wardrobe, choreography and dancers. The release quoted Gaga saying, “Music and dance have a profound ability to make people come alive and feel bonded to one another.”
The campaign also promoted a fan-dance contest for a place in a fan version of the video and attendance at Gaga’s Club MAYHEM dance party. It is historical context, not an available opportunity: the published rules say the contest ended February 9, 2025, and was open to eligible adult permanent residents of the United States and Canada, with no purchase required. An Extra TV verified YouTube listing dated February 18, 2025 describes a Mastercard-presented making-of feature, but its listing description does not provide a transcript.
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