Answorth Robinson, 73, has been dancing since sixth grade when he and two classmates choreographed a routine to perform in a youth talent competition at the Arkansas State Fair.
Several decades later, Robinson, a former professional dancer trained in jazz, tap, and ballet, still loves all forms of dance. That love for dance inspires him to teach 12 dance classes a week in the Memphis area.
From Whitehaven to Germantown, he teaches country western and urban line dance, Zumba, and Chair One Fitness, a chair-based dance fitness program. He says teaching is a “different level of high” from performing professionally, which he began in earnest as a senior in college after a road trip from Little Rock to Dallas.
His theater friends were headed to audition for two Dallas Summer Musical Theater shows featuring Gene Kelly and Ginger Rogers. Though Robinson was a business major and had only done a few local productions, he joined them, not wanting to miss the “opportunity of a lifetime.”
Turns out I got a part, and none of my friends did,” Robinson says. “That was the quietest ride from Dallas back to Little Rock, but I was going to do shows with those two legends.”
After dancing on stage with Kelly and Rogers, he says there’s nothing else he could have done that would have topped that experience. He spent the next couple of months touring with Disney on Parade, before returning to Dallas a couple of times for parts in Peter Pan and Gone with the Wind.
He moved to New York City in his mid-twenties to accelerate his career. He trained at the Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway, where Broadway choreographers often taught classes. Looking for another big break, he “wore out shoes going to audition after audition.”
Eventually, Robinson landed a part in an opera that toured the country. But when that show ended, he started thinking
“practically” about finances and the future. The dancer decided to trade in his ballet shoes for a tie. He ended his four-year stint as a professional dancer and got a job with the City of New York, where he worked for the next 30 years.
When Robinson retired, he moved to Memphis, and a year later, he reemerged in the dance world as a Zumba instructor. This June, he celebrated his fifteenth anniversary of teaching.
Robinson says he’s not slowing down any time soon. Not only is teaching a dozen classes a week keeping him active, but he believes learning and remembering the choreography keeps his mind sharp. “Anyone who attends line dance will get a mental workout,” he says.
Beyond the mental and physical benefits, Robinson cherishes the fellowship in the line dance community, “It feels like a family.” That feeling is tenfold at line dance conventions, where attendees sometimes dance from evening to early morning hours. “The energy at these conventions, held almost every weekend somewhere in the country, can be off the chain,” he says.
Robinson looks forward to that energy at Memphis’ biennial M-Town Throwdown Line Dance Convention, planned for April 2025 at the Renaissance Convention Center. Robinson, who chairs the convention, expects at least 350 dancers nationwide to attend. Registration is open to the public and to all levels of line dancers.
Dance with Robinson in class at the Ric Nuber and Georgette and Cato Johnson YMCAs, New Sardis Baptist Church, the Germantown Athletic Club, and the Germantown Pickering Center.
By Maya Smith
Photo by Tindall Stephens
