Patrick Corbin: life after ballet; the former hippie at the School of American Ballet finds the grass is greener at Paul Taylor Dance Company - Cover Story

Dance Magazine, June, 1994 by Janice Berman

On opening night in New York City, as Corbin began his duet with Sandra Stone, he says, "a feeling swept over me, just striving to be calm and to manufacture something strong and beautiful and quiet." Stone helped, he says. "With Sandy, you really go someplace else. When you're with her, she's right there all the time." As for Taylor, "Paul is totally about evolution. He didn't want me to do Chris's part; he wanted to see Patrick doing the part."

Corbin believes that Taylor has accepted him for who he is. As the troublemaker of Company B, he gets to act upon his personal proclivity for not smiling all the time. "Paul embraced it and didn't hold it against me," says Corbin, adding, "I feel like I'm becoming the dancer that Alastair [Munro] thought I could be, and it's thanks to Paul."

Taylor has urged Corbin in his five fledgling choreographic efforts so far to be himself: "I've learned a lot from Paul--that simplicity is not an easy thing to come by, that you have to know how many times you want to see something."

With some of his friends from Taylor and the Joffrey he gave a concert last fall. "It was a lot of fun, but the solo for myself [Hustle, set to Lou Reed's "Take a Walk on the Wild Side] was the scariest thing in the world, like letting people in to watch you take a bath." They also did a piece to Arvo Part, Part One, for three couples on pointe: himself and Jodie Gates ("my best friend"), Meg Gurin, Tom Mossbrucker, Nicole Marie Duffy, and Grenke.

Corbin also choreographed Psychedelic Six Pack to six psychedelic songs. Was Taylor an influence? "I don't know. I hope so. If somebody said it was derivative, I hadn't tried to be, but that's not too bad. You're learning something from where you are.

"Paul told me, |What you don't want to be is a baby Paul Taylor. Why would anybody want to be that?' He's right. He's doing it better than anybody. Why even try?"