Sandi was born and raised in Washington, D. C. to dancing parents. As a toddler she

stood on her father’s dancing shoes as he twirled her around the room. By the time she

was twelve years old she performed dance routines with her dad at Walter Reed Army

Hospital for veterans.

She moved to South Florida in 1980 and worked as the Dance Coordinator for “To Sea

with Z” where she positioned dance hosts and dance instructors on cruise ships that

sailed all over the world. Sandi has danced her way through life!

How befitting as Sandi is approaching her 86th birthday, that she has come full circle,

back to the veterans and the happy childhood she remembers by creating the

organization known as The Ageless World of Dance for YOUTH and VETERANS. When

she is not tripping the light fantastic with her sweetheart Tony Luis she is dancing with

Lon Wilkerson, our Executive Director. When Sandi first danced with Lon, she asked

him how old he was, and Sandi responded, “you’re dancing with your grandmother”.

She said, “The Ageless World of Dance!” And that is how it started.

Sandi spends winters in Boca Raton, Florida and summers in Boone, North Carolina. In

Boone she serves on the Appalachian State University Summer Festival Advisory

Board, the ASU Theater and Dance Advisory Board and the Lees McRae College

Summer Theater Advisory Board. The Sandi Finci Solomon Stage at Lees McRae

College is named in her honor. On that stage she produced a musical of precision

dancers of all ages, “The Carolina Snowbelles” created by a former Rockette. The

production was “Christmas in August in Banner Elk” which raised money for the

college.  For many years Sandi has given presentations of “The Joy of Partner Dancing”

to the students at both schools. For the four years preceding the pandemic Sandi

produced a community dance at ASU. She sponsored the students and raised money

for their college Swing Club and Shag Club. 

Sandi graciously entertains underprivileged children from the Western Youth Network at

her home every year. She also sponsors the “Youth Film Festival” at ASU and treats the

children to a live summer theater show where they are shown the backstage lighting

and sound booths. At WYN’s talent show Sandi and Tony Luis perform for the children

to share their joy of partner dancing.

She has hosted the FAU Ballroom Dance Club at the Goldcoast Ballroom with dinner

and dancing, having them showcase various ballroom dances.

Sandi was named Women of the Year by the Miami Transplant Foundation, the Grand

Ballroom at JAFCO (Jewish Adoption and Family Care Option) in Sunrise Florida is

named after her and her late husband Leonard, as is the Sanctuary at the Temple of the

High Country in Boone, NC.

Sandi believes whole-heartily in the therapeutic and healing power of dance. She

believes that dancing is ageless, and the glue that brings people of different

generations, persuasions, and beliefs together in a safe and happy environment. The

friendships and companionships formed from dancing are life transforming and that is a

mission that Sandi champions every day.