Mike Esperanza is an acclaimed artist from New York City who has established a national presence in the dance, photography and design communities. Esperanza has presented work on national and international stages with commissions by Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, Laguardia Performing Arts Center, National Center for Choreography in Akron, Ohio, San Francisco Dance Film Festival and numerous universities around the nation. Esperanza's talent garnered the Dance: Creation for Performance grant presented by Dance/USA and the Irvine Foundation, the Innerstate tour presented by ODC Theater, the paid engagement award at the Palm Desert Choreography Under the Stars Festival, the Reverb Dance Festival commission award, and the CUNY Dance Initiative. Esperanza's work has been described as, “bold, athletic movement and theatricality — epitomizes the dance of the new millennium: shape-shifting, vernacular-blending with a prescient focus on the brave new world in which we live” (Jessica Abrams, Explore Dance).