Amy Brown creates a unique and unexpected experience for teens and families across Clark County every month

Jessica Wilkinson 
for Clark County Today

For many entrepreneurs, success comes from being “ahead of their time.” But, for Amy Brown, the founder of Clark County English Country Dance, success seems to have arrived by taking a step back in time.

Picture the famous ballroom scene of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett in the movie Pride & Prejudice (2005), with its long lines of gentlemen and ladies opposite one another, dancing and switching partners, where everyone seems to know how to do the ever-changing proper steps at the right time. Then, replace the stiff and subdued dancers in that film with a hundred teenagers from all over Clark County smiling, laughing, and sweating as they dance and change partners for hours. Now, you can begin to picture the unique and unexpected experience Brown creates for teens and families across Clark County every month.

“I love watching kids have fun,” said Brown, a homeschooling mother of five who desires to stay “a step ahead” of her teens. “I love hearing teenagers say, ‘This was the best night of my life.’”

The movement started years ago when Brown was introduced to English Country Dance through a small gathering of friends. Intrigued by what she saw, Brown immediately found herself on the dance floor, having the time of her life. She continued to dance with local friends and learned to be a “caller,” which is the role of someone who prompts dancers throughout an event to know what dance and moves are expected at what time. After a year of learning and studying the style, mostly reminiscent of the 1500s and 1600s, even memorizing fifty unique dances, Brown launched Clark County English Country Dance in 2017.

Brown has hosted and “called” dances for birthday parties, corporate office events, banquets, weddings, and other social gatherings around Clark County for the past seven years. She has been hired for events ranging in size from 20 to 350 attendees from McMinnville to Seattle. Her exploding success among local teenagers in recent years seems to mirror the rising popularity of similarly styled “contra dance,” which is gaining ground with pockets of teens and young adults up and down the West Coast. This style used to be reserved for formal, older dance societies on the East Coast.

Seventeen-year-old Owen Domingo of Vancouver first attended an event hosted by Brown three years ago after hearing about it from friends. Since then, he’s attended many of the dances, which he describes as great fun for everyone because “You don’t have to know what you are doing to be there.”

Today, with over 700 members of her Clark County-specific Facebook group, Brown can rent a venue and post an event with only four days’ notice and expect a crowd to show up, paying a small admission fee to learn and dance with friends. Because Brown teaches the dances before they are called, anyone can attend and enjoy on-the-spot training, with some events specifically geared toward teenagers and others for people of all ages.

Anna Romig, a 14-year-old homeschool student from Ariel, said she was “kind of surprised that it wasn’t just slow dancing” when she attended her first Clark County English Country Dance last year. “I was excited that we were interacting with everyone. Amy teaches us how to do the dances, step by step,” Romig said. As someone who continues returning to Brown’s events, Romig said, “It’s fun to dance my favorite dances and learn new ones.”

“When I first attended an English Country Dance at Christmastime, it was quite a bit larger than I had expected,” said Elijah Crone, a 12-year-old homeschool student from Ridgefield. “It was challenging at times because of the large number of people, but it was fun at the same time to see people either fail or succeed at getting the dance just right. The dance was fun, well-planned, and a nice opportunity to hang out with friends.”

Word spread quickly, and what originally started as dances for homeschool co-ops or mostly homeschool students has broadened. Brown was hired for three public school dances in Clark County this March and has more on the horizon.

Diane Harpe, a teacher and the NHS Adviser at CAM Academy in Battle Ground, said of a recent dance at her school, “The parents and teachers were incredibly grateful for [Brown’s] wholesome approach to how dancing can be so beautiful. Also, the kids bonded together.”

“The dances are clean, wholesome fun, and give teens something healthy and social to do on a Friday night,” agrees Brown. “Additionally, this specific dance style teaches etiquette to device-addicted kids and helps them socialize while learning to handle the opposite gender.”

Parents approve. “I first heard about Clark County English Country Dance from my mom,” said Isabella Bondarchuk, a twelve-year-old homeschool student in Vancouver. “A few of her friends raved about how fun the dances were, and we went to the St. Patrick’s Day Dance as a family for the first time last year, in 2023.”

“I had not experienced this kind of dance before, and I like that Amy Brown calls out what to do so you are prepared and don’t have to look around frantically at everyone else while trying to figure out what to do,” explained Bondarchuk. “She is clear in her explanations on how to do the dances and sometimes asks more experienced dancers to come up and demonstrate the dances as she explains what to do. I attended a couple of dances with friends, and I love that I get to hang out with my friends while dancing, too.”

Brittney McNamar, a Ridgefield parent of multiple students who attended Brown’s events, shared, “I love how Amy Brown orchestrates the dances. She is a joy-filled woman who shares that joy with the crowd of dancers. I especially love that all involved have a great time, from the youngest to the oldest. Our youth benefit greatly from events like these. It’s a safe place to celebrate and be free while honoring the old traditions of song and dance.”

Brown alters her event venues and themes regularly to keep the dancing experience novel for participants and expose them to various dances all over the county. For example, she hosted a Masquerade Ball in the Wendel Taxidermy Museum last year and a 1920s Soiree in the 1923 JC Penney building downtown. She used a “Dancing ‘Round the World” theme in which each month’s dance represented a different country, with the music, dress, and dances styled to match the country.

This year’s theme, “Dancing Thru the Decades,” has brought massive success with a Great Gatsby-style 1920s dance for teens at the Grange in Camas in February. Her next event will be a St. Patrick’s Day Dance open to all ages on Sunday, March 17, at the Salmon Creek United Methodist Church.

Of course, hosting regular events is challenging, and Brown will be the first to admit it. She makes a significant effort to coordinate songs, dances, themes, and costumes to benefit her guests’ experience. With steep prices for event insurance, venue rentals, and security deposits, she works hard to advertise consistently and keep costs low for participants. But, by all accounts, her enthusiasm is palpable and keeps the people returning for more.

“There is something so beautiful about the whole community coming together to dance and celebrate, regardless of age,” commented Brown. “This is the most fun I have ever had.

Jessica Hofer Wilkinson is a freelance writer, home educator and mother of four and nursing home chaplain. She resides in Clark County.