Gary grew up in Canada and the United States. His father's parents emmigrated from Poland to Canada in the 1920's,  and his mother escaped Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938 with her parents, and found refuge in the States.

After having started dance classes with Jean Ahern while studying at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Gary moved to Palo Alto to study at the  Academy of Ballet with Richard Gibson. He went on to dance professionally in both classical and contemporary companies in Italy, Israel, and The Netherlands. These included Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Teatro la Fenice, The Israel Ballet, Batsheva Dance Company, Scapino Ballet and a number of freelance groups. 

 

Gary is a cultural and restaurant entrepreneur. After his dance career he opened the first bagel and muffin shop chain in the Netherlands (Gary’s Muffins). After selling them, he opened an arts café (music, dance & literature) – Café Belcampo, which is part of the public library in the renovated ‘De Hallen' complex in Amsterdam. Belcampo organizes more than 100 cultural events each year. He is the founder of and was director until 2023 of the most important open professional dance studio in the Netherlands and Europe, the Henny Jurriëns Studio Besides its year-round training program, HJS also organizes the Amsterdam Summer Intensive which attracts dancers from more than 40 countries every year. 

 

Gary also founded and directed (until 2014) the Dancing on the Edge Festival,which stimulates cultural exchange between the Netherlands and the West Asia/North Africa region, and brought hundreds of artists and productions from the region to The Netherlands. He still manages the scholarship program which brings talented dancers from the region for summer programs in The Netherlands. 

 

Gary is, together with his wife Savina, co-founder and director of AmsterDans, 

The first international dance competition in Amsterdam for dance schools,

which held its 7th edition in 2024.  In 2017 he founded and since then

directs the Arts and Dialogue Foundation. Activities include Cultural Sunday

series in the Passage of De Hallen, which holds monthly large-scale events

such as Black Achievement Day and Turkish Music Day. Other projects of the

foundation include a Turkish-Arabic-Hebrew choir, and producing a concert

called Jewish Jazz.

 

Gary is on the board of directors of the Jewish-Muslim dialogue group,

the Yalla! Foundation which regularly hosts meetings at the residence of the

Mayor of Amsterdam and other venues. He has been a member of a number

of governmental art commissions on both the municipal and national level.

He is currently on the Dance Commission of the Amsterdam Arts Council. His

most recent appointment is as a management team member of the Museum of
Memory and Welcome in Santa Maria al Bagno, Nardó in Italy. he is responsible

there for programming, international relations and fundraising.

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Gary won the prestigious Dansersfonds ’79 prize in 2020 for his contribution

to the Dutch dance scene. In 2024 he won the Frans Banninck Cocqpenning, a

medal from the municipality of Amsterdam awarded to city residents who have

made a special contribution for a period of at least ten years in the cultural,
societal, or economic field, which has had a national or international impact

He is proficient at various levels in English (mother tongue) Dutch, Italian,

Hebrew and French. 

 

Gary is married to Savina Marasi and together they have a son and daughter, Amedeo and Allegra.