Amy Lemco, Arts & Life Editor At 76, ballroom dance instructor, racquetball enthusiast and lawyer-by-day Ashby Dickerson is an inspiration. Dickerson’s first experience with ballroom was his 8th-grade cotillion. “I didn’t learn much about dance,” Dickerson said. “I just learned to go across a room and ask a girl to dance — not to have fear.” It was not until 1995 when he began to take ballroom seriously as a form of exercise. Then in 2003, Dickerson was attending a reception, following QuinTango’s performance at the Barter. Emory & Henry’s Athletic Director, Eleanor Hall Hutton, was also attending. She asked Dickerson if he knew someone who could teach for the college. And so, for the last fifteen years, E&H has benefitted from Dickerson’s knowledge and dedication in the program. Besides students who want to learn ballroom for ballroom’s sake, it is a great addition to theatre major’s skill sets and a benefit to all athletes. NFL Greats Emmitt Smith, Hines Ward and Donald Driver all won their season of “Dancing With the Stars,” helping make visible a trend that some already known professional athletes take different forms of dance: hip-hop, ballet and ballroom. It helps flexibility, agility, stamina, synchronization and improvisation. Dickerson is certainly a testament to ballroom’s ability to keep you young. He also credits his Mediterranean diet, commitment to a full night’s sleep and the four to five times a week he plays at Abingdon Racquetball, the club where he is part owner. He also competes in the sport. By day, Dickerson is a lawyer at Penn Stuart, specializing in workers’ compensation for hearing loss. He sees these cases primarily for workers from the coal mining industry and factories, but says worksites are becoming more diligent providing and requiring hearing protection. “Away from work, guns and music are the biggest causes of hearing loss,” Dickerson warns. “A gun firing is 150 decibels. Anything over 90 decibels will cause damage.” Dickerson teaches two segments of ballroom per semester and holds monthly dances with refreshments in the BOV.
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March 2020
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