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. He also works as a freelance composer across the USA and internationally, performing, teaching, recording, and improvising. For the last 10 years he has been teaching and performing with Nancy Stark Smith. He teaches on the faculty of the Smith College dance department. He has released 9 CD's.