?There is no school for dance accompaniment and no degree that you can study for to teach you how to play for a dance class. If you?re lucky, you?re taken under the wing of a musician or dancer who shows you the ropes. If not, you learn ? very quickly ? how to give a teacher the music he or she needs to teach a class.?

Nebraska-born Douglas Corbin was one of lucky ones. Mr. Corbin has worked with some of the legends of the dance world and as a result is considered one of best accompanists working with dance schools and companies today.

His is a unique talent that requires technical skill, a broad and diverse repertoire of music, and the ability to react quickly to the ever-changing dynamics of a dance class.

Mr. Corbin?s prodigious talent is on display from morning ?til early evening as the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda enters the second week of a three-week summer intensive dance programme being taught at Bermuda High School by faculty of world-renowned American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

The acclaimed pianist is one of three virtuosos brought to Bermuda by ABT, whose teachers are conducting classes in contemporary and classical ballet, modern and jazz. Michael Cherry and Mira Tsidulko share the workload of providing accompaniment to roughly 40 classes a week.

In addition to accompanying classes in three separate levels of ability, Mr Corbin is also teaching music theory for dance to the 66 students participating in the intensive programme.

Asked how an Omaha-born, New York-educated African American ended up in this highly specialised niche, he laughs quietly.

?Economics and my own interests, I guess,? he says with a broad smile. ?I moved to New York in the mid ?80s to pursue a career in music. New York was where it was all happening, and still is, and everything was so competitive. Every job became an important job.

?I found I was good at this, and that I enjoyed it enormously. And there was a lot of work. The dance scene in New York in the ?80s was huge, as it still is today.?

There?s a difference between being a technically proficient, even gifted musician, and one who is able to respond effectively to the nuances of a dance class.

?There is an aptitude and an attitude. Just as a dancer has to hear the music, a musician has to be able to feel the movement,? Mr. Corbin says.

For the dancers, there a significant difference between executing dance combinations to recorded music and having the luxury of moving to expertly played, movement-appropriate music.

?It?s pretty simple ? it?s the difference between something that?s alive and something that?s not, and when it all comes together ? the teachers, the dancers, and the music ? the energy is unmistakable.?

Mr. Corbin has been very impressed with the level of music knowledge the students in the dance programme have, particularly the Bermudian dancers.

?These kids know a lot about music, so they?re getting some good information from somewhere. It is quite unusual to see this level of understanding, so their teachers deserve a real pat on the back.?

Mr. Corbin holds BA and MA degrees from Hunter College, City University of New York. After early piano studies with Dr. Claudette Valentine in his hometown of Omaha, he moved to New York City, where he won widespread acclaim for his work with major companies and schools, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, School of American Ballet, the Graham School, American Ballet Theatre, and many others.

He has had an especially long and fruitful collaboration with ballet teacher David Howard, with whom he continues to work in master classes and workshops.

In 1990, Douglas accompanied Maya Plisetskaya?s historic first master classes in New York City. In 1995, he was invited by Merce Cunningham to provide music for the Cunningham company classes.

His collaboration with tap dance legend Paul Draper was the subject of a PBS television special, ?Paul Draper on Tap.?

He also leads workshops on music for dance throughout the U.S. and Europe, and is currently Associate Professor of Dance at Florida State University.