Judith Lynn Duffy

Judy received her formal ballet training at George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet, the official school of the New York City Ballet.  She studied with Alexandria Danilova, Antonia Tumkovsky and Suki Shorer.  She also studied under full scholarships at Robert Joffrey’s American Ballet Center in New York City and the Pennsylvania Ballet Company under the direction of Barbara Weissberger.

Judy performed both traditional and contemporary roles with Capital Ballet, Arlington Dance Theatre, Atrium Chamber Company and the Loudoun Ballet after moving to the Washington, D.C. area in 1979.

She has taught classical, Russian ballet technique to young children through adults (including seniors) for the past 25 years throughout the D.C. area. In January 1999 she started ice dancing under the coaching of Peter Murfitt and Vladimir Federov and later Alexi Mishin and Natalia Dubova.  Since that time, Judy has taught classical ballet to skaters at Ashburn Ice House, Cabin John Ice Rink, SkateNation Reston, Bowie Ice Rink and Benfield Ice Rink.

In the summer of 2003, Judy opened IVY HOUSE, a unique environment for training both young dancers and skaters modeled after Anna Pavlova’s own Ivy House.  Her love of ballet and the sport of ice skating have inspired Judy to create new dynamic techniques to train dancers and skaters of all ages and abilities.

A message from Richard Zierdt:

HBDC has lost a dear friend and invaluable volunteer. Steve Schuman and his partner, Nora Fisher, danced regularly at our Ballroom, and Steve worked many special projects for us, most recently the design of our Take Five Café sign, small ballroom moldings and other physical improvements. He and Rich Gross were Guest DJ’s on a memorable evening in March. Steve was one of our strongest supporters and most talented contributors. We will miss him every day, and send our condolences to Nora and the rest of his family and friends.

Steve Schuman

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Steve graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in business.  He was co-founder of the Proteus Bike Shop in College Park, Maryland, and was co-author of the now iconic book “The Proteus Framebuilding Handbook: A Guide for the Novice Bicycle Framebuilder”.  He went on to produce and repair athletic wheelchairs, primarily for children.

Over time, Steve’s mechanical and design ingenuity led him (along with Paula Shuman, Abbie Chessler and Ernie Falcone) to become a co-founder of Quatrefoil, a Maryland based firm that designs prototypical and unique museum based displays, many of which are now in place at national institutions such as the Smithsonian and the U.S. Mint.

In addition, Steve had a profound love of music and a remarkable ability to achieve self-taught mastery of multiple instruments including piano, violin and guitar.  Many hours of joy were experienced by Steve’s family and friends whenever he would play.  He was active as a volunteer with Friends of Olney PlayHouse and the Sandy Spring Museum.  In his later years, Steve, along with his beloved Nora, became involved in ballroom dancing.  He involved himself as a tireless volunteer at the Hollywood Ballroom Dance Center.

Steve also spent many years on a spiritual journey and found peace and love in the Quaker faith.  He became very involved in the Quaker community and was among the leaders on numerous projects and activities.  He was loving and caring and always willing to help anyone in need.  He played the piano almost any Sunday and he developed many dear friends there.

We miss you, Steve.  Thank you for all that you did and all that you were. Thank you for your support of the Ballroom.