RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a Madison County woman’s challenge to a town’s ban of her dancing at a local hall, which it deemed lewd.

Rebecca Willis claimed the town of Marshall violated her First Amendment rights by banning her from the Marshall Depot, a refurbished train station that served as a local gathering spot.

Town officials told Willis in December 2000 that she was banned from the hangout. A letter from the mayor cited “inappropriate behavior” by Willis, as well as previous warnings.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. upheld a district court ruling Friday that said Willis’ free speech protections were not violated.

The panel said Willis had been “dancing for her own enjoyment,” which didn’t rise to the level of dancing that’s protected by the First Amendment.

Willis’ dancing “is not conduct which is sufficiently communicative to bring it within the protection of the First Amendment.”

Most dancing performed for the benefit of an audience is protected, the court said, including ballet and striptease.

The court also rejected her claim that the town policy is “necessarily vague because it is unwritten.”

A district court had denied her request for a court order that would require the town to allow Willis to attend events at the Depot. The appeals court directed the lower court to reconsider that portion of Willis’ appeal.

The district court in Asheville will have to find out if the town received complaints about other dancers.

“If you’re going to accuse somebody of dirty dancing with somebody else, it’s probably not a good idea to just charge one of them,” Willis’ lawyer, Jon Sasser, told the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Sasser said he expects to show Willis was singled out.

The town’s lawyer, Larry Leake, said had not yet reviewed the decision Friday but expected not to bow out now.

“The town believes that her mode of dance was inappropriate and offensive,” Leake said, “to the folks who come to the depot.”