Yesterday afternoon, I received some shocking news: that a reader and frequent commenter here, Sharon Balik, had passed away that morning suddenly and unexpectedly. She commented here under the name BDC_Sharon and had just left a message over the weekend on my most recent SYTYCD post.
I’m still in shock and can’t stop thinking about her. She found my blog a couple of years ago and we’d become very good friends. She became enamored of ballroom dancing after Dancing With the Stars premiered. She began taking lessons with her husband, Tim, and when DWTS pro dancers Maks Chmerkovskiy, Elena Grinenko, and Tony Dovolani founded the Ballroom Dance Channel website, she began to work for them, researching and writing articles about various aspects ballroom dance, writing recaps of the dance shows on TV, leading discussions about such issues as whether DanceSport should become an Olympic sport, and helping to promote the website’s online ballroom dance lessons. She kindly linked to my blog and my HuffPo reviews, and brought me a load of new readers. She really became a tireless promoter of all things ballroom.
When she began writing for BDC, she’d email to ask me questions about the ballroom competition scene since she knew I had experience with that. And we just became friends. She was one of those people who’s so easy to befriend, who’ll listen to you go on and on and will end up offering you all this really well thought-out, sound advice. Whenever I had a problem with dance or with a heckler here or an angry artist writing me nasty emails about a critical review, she naturally became one of the people I’d send my “Help!” email to 🙂 And of course she always had such funny, clever, thought-provoking, opionionated things to say — both in response to those emails and here on the blog. I am going to miss her so much.
It’s funny how close you can become to someone you’ve never met in person. People who say you only make superficial connections on the internet are so wrong. I am really going to miss you, Sharon.
Read the tribute to her on TVGrapevine, where she posted frequently as well, here.
Sorry to hear about your friend, I am sure you will miss her contributions and blogs. I am sure she would appreciate all you said.
This is amazing. I still can't believe she's gone…
What a shame! I'm so sorry.
Wow… thank you for posting the news but I sure hate to hear it. She and I chatted a little about two years ago on Maks' forum. We both discovered it about the same time, well, she was a little before me, but I've read many of her posts here and there over the years. If I remember correctly, her husband is in the Navy and they have at least two school -age children. So sad for them all.
Yes, that's her Laurel. I know, it is so sad for them all. I can't believe it — she was so young…
Oh, I am so sorry to read this. It's terrible to say goodbye to people. I am glad that you had the time together that you did. The internet really can be a wonderful way to bring people together who share interests and who otherwise might not find each other. What a terrible loss for her family and her friends.
What a beautiful way of remembering Sharon. She was a unique person – a true treasure .. irreplaceable .. as you, Sharon and I became friends on the internet and I am blessed that I knew her. I will truly miss her.
Oh Tonya, I am so sorry. I didn't hear about Sharon's passing til reading your report about the latest ballroom competition. She was a good friend to me too, and I think introduced me to you.
May God Bless Sharon & her family.
Oh Tonya, I am so sorry. I didn't hear about Sharon's passing til reading your report about the latest ballroom competition. She was a good friend to me too, and I think introduced me to you.
May God Bless Sharon & her family.