A tale of two dancing sisters

By Vicki Botta
CHESTER — As she sat in the audience of the Broadway show "Cats," 13-year-old Dana Solimando of Chester knew her fate was sealed.
Her sister Gina remembers what Dana said to her mom back then: “This is what I want to do!”
After studying together at Kennett School of Dance in Goshen, Gina found that she enjoyed teaching dance. She now has her own dance studio, New York Dance Center in Chester. And Dana did in fact get to dance in "Cats" on Broadway, after singing and dancing in "Annie." She also danced in the role of Tiger Lily with Cathy Rigby in "Peter Pan." Her latest achievement and biggest breakthrough has been to direct and choreograph "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" at Madison Square Garden and a separate show of the same name touring in other areas.
Dana, who now lives in Los Angeles, grew up with Gina in Chester and graduated from Chester Academy in the late 1980s. According to Gina, her sister has spent the past 15 years traveling all over the world.
“Dana has been trying to make a career of choreography for the past three years, and this most recent show has been her biggest breakthrough,” she said.
It was a challenge to bring the classic stop-motion animated story, which made its debut in 1964, to life on the stage. The technology at the time limited the activity of the characters.
The live show has turned into a “full blown musical," Gina said. Dana carefully casted people that understood the nostalgic connection to the personalities of each character, and could accurately represent the spirit of the character without simply imitating them as they appeared in the original show.
Gina was so very proud of her sister when she and the "Rudolph" cast appeared on the popular Wendy Williams show.
Her sister has had to travel back and forth from L.A. to Chicago and New York City for the past few months, overseeing both the touring show and the show at Madison Square Garden. Gina and her family attended the openings of both shows.
Gina said she and her sister loved growing up in Chester. And New York City was within reach. Gina watched Dana struggle to get down to the city for audition after audition.
"It was a hard life from the start," Gina said.
But she got her name out there and made connections dancing in the shows.
Gina admires her sister’s dedication in getting what she wanted. And she has come back home several times to inspire the 180 students who study at Gina's dance studio on Route 17M, across from Cumberland Farms.
"My sister is one of the nicest people on the planet," said Gina. "There isn’t one person who knows her who doesn’t love her.”