CorbinDances dance company performs at Dance Place this weekend. Photo by Lois Greenfield, courtesy of CorbinDances.

A great dancer does not a choreographer make, but area native Patrick Corbin has proven otherwise with his company CorbinDances. Fresh off receiving rave reviews this spring in a two week season at Joyce SoHo in NYC, CorbinDances will perform two shows this weekend at Dance Place.

The company’s engagement this weekend will be a homecoming for Corbin, who grew up in Potomac, Maryland. He shared his thoughts about his company and his dance influences with DCist this week, confiding that he is “very excited and a little nervous about coming home to perform.”

When it comes to his childhood, Patrick said, “Growing up in the D.C. area was great. Some of my fondest memories are of Great Falls Park in Maryland, and I still love visiting the canal.”

Corbin began his dance training at the Washington School of Ballet before moving on to dance at the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and The Joffrey Ballet. He is best known for his many years dancing with modern master Paul Taylor, and performed celebrated roles in the company’s signature pieces, oftentimes alongside renowned dancer Lisa Viola.

There is no denying that Corbin’s years dancing with Taylor are a huge influence on his work, and Corbin still is significantly involved with the company, teaching at the Taylor school and staging Taylor’s work with dance companies across the world.

Taylor has clearly been supportive in Corbin’s decision to venture into the world of choreography, as evidenced in a recent video conversation between the two choreographers featured on CorbinDance’s web site.

“Paul Taylor is a huge influence on my work,” Corbin said. “I especially rely on what I learned from him when it comes to moving people around the stage.”

The company will present three of his favorite works this weekend, selected from CorbinDances’s recent New York season, and one world premiere choreographed by Nelly van Bommel.

Corbin’s choreographic contributions to the concert include Romantic Conversions, which explores the potential freedom in the classical port de bras as it becomes translated into full body movement; For the Good Times, a duet that portrays the tension between a woman’s refusal to be comforted and a friend who attempts to soothe her pain by forcing her to remember the good times; and Reach, a modern story ballet with complex configurations and wild athletics.

Nelly van Bommel’s work, Adele’s Skirt, which explores the intimacy between human interaction, represents Corbin’s commitment to promoting emerging choreographers.

“There are so many talented, engaging people out there with great ideas who don't have the platform on which to do their work. I feel it's very important for me to share my resources and give these artists a chance. I think that attitude comes directly from Robert Joffrey,” Corbin said.

As for the future, Corbin is ready to get back into the studio to start a new work once the company’s summer tour is over. He will be returning to DC in January to set Paul Taylor’s piece Last Look on CityDance Ensemble, a process which he predicts will be a “very intense experience” given the physically and emotionally demanding nature of the work.

CorbinDances will perform this Saturday and Sunday evening at Dance Place. Tickets are available online or by calling (202) 269-1600.