POWAY - Delicate strains of music filled the Sunday night air, bringing to mind formal balls of centuries past. Men and women lined up in two rows facing each other. Stepping forward, they touched hands, turned and dipped with grace and flourish, seeming to float as they changed partners.

The weekly English Country Dance class was in session at the Jean Hart Academy of Dance, a private studio at Oak Knoll Plaza shopping center.

'The music itself takes you back to the age of Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice,'" said ellen riley, who teaches the class. "It's so incredible. It transports me to that era and makes my heart beat with joy."

Riley sometimes teaches dance under contract with the city of Poway Community Services. She is a part time dance teacher and works part-time as a librarian at the Poway Library. Her passion for English country dancing has led her to create the costumes her students wear when they go to elaborate English country balls.

The dance is similar to square dancing and contra dancing -- which started in the colonies as a breakaway 'rebel' version of English country dance, said Riley, 49. The elegance of English country dancing is Riley's favorite, perhaps because social mores and culture are brought to life with each step.

"I tell my students to have fun and 'don't forget to flirt," she said. "They flirted like crazy back then because it was perfectly acceptable on the dance floor, and not in many other places."

When Alex Tarzy, 15, joined the class a year ago at the urging of his girlfriend, Vanessa Porter, also 15, he picked up the steps naturally. He braced himself for the reaction from members of his junior varsity football team and the community service club he belonged to at Poway High School.

"I didn't want them to know i was doing this, but I've learned to deal with it," he said. "I like being away from our peers and doing something I never thought I could do."

Riley loves to see students get hooked. In January, a group of her 50 students will head for the Jane Austen formal ball in Pasadena - in full costume. Balls like this are presented by various country dance and song associations.

"The spectacle is incredible," said Riley. "Ihere are no callers at these events. instead, dancers are truly immersed in a different time, dancing the night away in elegant style."

In the meantime, she hopes to start a beginner's class soon.

"It's so uplifting, especially now," she said, referring to the terrorist attacks. "no matter what's going on around us, for a short time you can escape into the past, into gentler times."

With a folk dancing background, Riley took up English country dancing when she moved to Poway from Philadelphia in 1982. When some of the local dance teachers retired, she taught herself the steps by picking up patterns off the Internet and in books and by going to balls held around the country. Her husband, Scott, didn't dance a step when they got married eight years ago, "but he was a good sport," Riley said.

She taught him and he studied patterns on the computer screen until he felt comfortable. When she felt ready to teach in public, he accompanied her. The group at the studio celebrated its first anniversary this month.

Helen McGuinness, who moved here from England nine years ago, said that class brought back memories from her childhood.

"Funny to come to poway and find a class offered here," said McGuinness, 41. "I can remember learning these dance steps as child." McGuinness enrolled herself and both her daughters, who are 11 and 13.

"The girls like it because they see what I've taked about all these years," she said. "It's incredible to see traditions brought back to life and a great mix of young with old. it's your link to the past, knowing they've done it for centuries."

When Vanessa Porter's English teacher directed her to Riley, Vanessa became smitten by the intricate steps. She puts aside her studying, her work on the Associated Student Body and the cross country team for these classes once a week.

"This is my getaway," she said. "It's been the most rewarding of all."

For more information on English country dance lessons, call Riley at (858) 486-916O or visit the Web sites http://sdecd.org or http://www.cdss.org.