Gary Marino

Gary began his formal training in the music department of SUNY at Albany and then went on to study dance at Skidmore College.  He has also studied jazz at the Luigi School in New York City as well as modern dance at the Martha Graham School.  Gary has performed with many dance companies, including the Skidmore Dancers, Saratoga Ballet Company, Schenectady Civic Ballet, Buffalo Repertory Ballet Company, and Camelon Dancers.  In addition to dancing, Gary also has experience in choreography.  He choreographed and appeared in La Traviata and Rigoletto at Artpark, and he has choreographed numerous ballets for the Buffalo Repertory Ballet Company. 

Gary has fifteen years of teaching experience.  He has been a dance instructor at Skidmore College, Royal Academy of Ballet, Union College, Steppin' Out Dance Academy, Performing Arts, Lockport City Ballet, Classical Ballet of Western New York, Dawn Marie's Dance Works, Mary Alice's Dance Studio in Orchard Park, SUNY at Albany and Buffalo, among others.  Currently, Gary is on the faculty at Dance Spectrum, American Academy of Ballet, David DeMarie, and Niagara University.

In addition to performing, Gary is an accomplished Choreographer.  He also judges dance competitions in the United States and Canada, including Dance Masters of America and Western New York Dance Championships.  Recently he has performed with Configuration Dance Theater in Michael Shannon's ballet Been there Done That and performed as the Merlin character in Arthur.

Gary has created a new ballet in collaboration with Peter Bennett on Jackie Gleason's Gigot, a production of which was performed at Niagara University.   In addition to teaching classical Vaganova technique in ballet, he has coached both figure skating for the Buffalo Skating Club and gymnastics at Gleason's Gymnastics.  Gary has spent his summers guest teaching in Saratoga Springs, New York at the Ballet Regent School and the New York State Summer School for the Arts.

Gary's goal as a teacher is to give students a basic foundation of technical skills that will allow them to achieve a level of comfort, enabling them to take necessary risks to prosper and grow as human beings and artists.

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