CALIFORNIA is an abstract meditation for five dancers, including Jasperse, on a state rife with paradox: from the Gold Rush to natural disasters, from sexual revolution to AIDS, from the boom of Hollywood to the dot-com bust. The work asks, according to Jasperse, "What should we do when things haven't worked out as we had hoped?"

The dance is accompanied by live music by composer Jonathan Bepler, who composed the music for Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle, and features sets by Ammar Eloueini and costumes by Jasperse, Katy Pyle, and Winnie Lee.

CALIFORNIA is presented as part of BAM's Next Wave Festival, a series of avant-garde works that debuted in 1983.

The New York-based John Jasperse Company was founded in 1989 by Jasperse, who won a Bessie Award in 2001. For the 2001 Next Wave Festival, Jasperse created Giant Empty, a work about the effect of architecture on the body.