Mike Vargas began playing music in 1959. His curiosity and love of collaboration have led him through many contexts and cultures, from cocktail lounges in Indonesia to New York's Lower East Side, from cancer wards to the Kennedy Center. He started specializing in music for dance in 1978. Since 1980 he has been composing, performing nationally and internationally, teaching music and improvisation, creating over 100 commissioned dance scores, and presenting concerts of his music. He has taught at universities across the USA and has participated at numerous dance festivals such as Bates Dance Festival and Tanzsommer Innsbruck. For the last 7 years he has been teaching and performing around the world with Nancy Stark Smith. He has released 6 CD's. In 2003 he published an article on composition in Contact Quarterly.
