Mr. Ashley's experience and training is vast. He began his dance education in Atlanta at the Sandy Springs School of Ballet, studying with his mother and Joan Kall Stewart. He studied there through high school and was chosen to attend the Governor's Honors Program in the area of dance.

After graduation, he studied with Terpschore School of Dance and Ruth Mitchell in Atlanta, also dancing with her company. After two years at Breanu University where he studied under scholarship, he was awarded further scholarship to attend Jacksonville University. Mr. Ashley has taught in many studios, theatres, and performing arts centers. Prior to teaching at Dancer's Pointe in Knoxville, he taught at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, LaVilla Middle School of the Arts, and Dansation's Performing Arts Center. He is sought after each summer to teach and choreograph in dance camps nationwide.

Mr. Ashley has been principal dancer with the Dance Connection, Busch Gardens; guest artist with the Florida Ballet, Jacksonville Ballet Theatre, and Point West Dance Company; and company member of Bay Ballet Theatre, Tampa. He has performed over eight years with the First Coast Nutcracker and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.

He choreographed Beauty & the Beast and Music Man for the Theatre Guild, and West Side Story. He has also worked on the productions of Hamlet and The Tempest at Walters State Community College.

Many of Mr. Ashley's students have received scholarships to prestigious programs such as The Edge, L.A.; Jacob's Pillow, Massachusetts; Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, Connecticut; Atlanta Festival Ballet; The Harid Conservatory, Florida; and Ballet Nevada.