A Message from Roni.

When I was 15 years old I decided I wanted to switch dance studios.  My mother was amenable to the idea however, due to the rebellious teenage stage I was in, she was unwilling to drive me to the remote studios in the city she was certain I would find solely to irritate her.  I did the research and found a new studio that had just opened.  It was owned by a cool, hip, pretty, warm, funny, talented young woman named Sherry Shamon.  I immediately knew I’d found a home with Sherry.  I remember thinking, “she is the coolest chick I’ve ever met.  I wish I were older so she’d want to be my friend.” 
 
I started the teen jazz program with her and learned more in a few months than I had learned in 5 years at my other studio. 
 
Sherry formed the Shamon Dancer’s in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  We performed for charities all over the city.  Retirement homes, ACT Telethon, MS Foundation amongst many others.  Sherry believed in giving back.  She introduced me to the marriage of art and philanthropy. 
 
As I grew older, I got my wish.  We became friends and she nurtured me as a teacher and a choreographer.  It was Sherry and Sherry alone that gave me the courage to move to Los Angeles all those years ago.  Without her encouragement, talent, support, love and loyalty I don’t think I would have left.  The bitter sweetness of that realization is that by staying I would have enjoyed many more years with my mentor and friend.
 
Sherry was many things to me:  mentor, teacher, and friend.  Most of all, however, she was the big sister I never had but secretly wished for.  She was fiercely loyal and pathologically honest.  If Sherry had an intuition about somebody, bad or good, you believed it.   She always told it like it was.  That is what I loved about her the most.  

I wanted to do something to celebrate Sherry’s life and influence.  I’ve chosen to develop a scholarship in her name here in Los Angeles.  I’ll be giving a year’s free dance classes to a deserving student at every recital.  Sadly, she never made it to see me in California but now she has a permanent place at the studio I created as a direct result of her influence in my life.
 
The Sherry Shamon Scholarship Fund is now in it's second year.   

Roni Blak
Owner MNR Dance Factory

 

Click here to read a letter from
Scholarship recipient Eli Villagran...

MNR and the Sherry Shamon Scholarship fund also supports NOBA - Click here to read more...

How to contribute?

Please contact MNR Dance Factory for information on how to contribute to the Sherry Shamon Scholarship fund.

MNR Dance Factory
11606 San Vicente Blvd.
Brentwood,CA 90049

Phone: 310-826-4554