When choreographer Brandon Welch gives direction to his dancers during rehearsal, he’s usually focused on helping them embody the movement more fully. But lately, something curious has been happening: “The things that I’m saying, I’m like, oh, this is absolutely what I need to hear right now for my life,” he admits with a laugh. “It’s been really interesting.”
This moment of revelation captures the essence of what Brandon Welch and Celia Grannum Perarnaud are creating together through their collaborative project, The Redirect. For these two Boulder-based artists, dance isn’t just about beautiful shapes or technical precision—it’s a living laboratory for exploring life’s deepest questions and reconnecting with our shared humanity.

Returning to the Body

At the heart of The Redirect’s work lies a simple but profound observation: most of us have become strangers to our own bodies. “All of us nowadays are kind of walking around in a slightly disembodied state,” Celia notes, pointing to the way modern life often prioritizes mental activity over physical awareness.
Their solution is elegantly simple: Start with breath. Their workshops, designed for dancers and non-dancers alike, begin with what Celia calls “the foundation of embodiment”—the basic recognition that “I am here. How do I know I’m here? I have breath. I have five senses.”
This approach removes what Brandon calls “failure as an option.” Rather than intimidating participants with complex choreography, they create space for organic discovery. “We’re walking, okay, wait, let’s walk and listen to the earth through the soles of our feet,” Celia describes. “And then, suddenly, you kind of get this wake-up moment. Who am I? What am I doing? Why am I here?”

Life as Creative Practice

Perhaps most compelling about The Redirect’s work is their understanding of creativity as a life skill rather than an artistic specialty. “I view life as a creative process,” Brandon observes. “When we gather together to talk about the arts and the creative process, everybody walks away with new tools for approaching life since it is an act of creating and constant decision making.”
This philosophy permeates their teaching methodology. Instead of focusing on technical perfection, they offer what Brandon describes as notes about “how can you experience this partnering moment as though you’re experiencing it for the first time?” These aren’t just dance directions—they’re invitations to presence that apply far beyond the studio.
Celia emphasizes the transformative power of this approach: “Everybody at the end of the day just feels more whole when they can get vulnerable and dive into their humanity. And then the thing is, once you’ve taken one little step, you can’t turn around and pretend you never did that. You can’t unsee what you’ve seen already.”

The Reality of the Artist’s Life

Behind the philosophical beauty of their work lies the gritty reality that most dancers face: Making art while making a living. “A lot of dancers don’t make a living from dance,” Celia explains with refreshing honesty. “We are compelled to make our lives through dance, but we definitely don’t make a living through dance.”
This economic reality requires the same creativity they bring to choreography. Brandon describes needing “as much creativity out of the studio as in the studio to figure all the pieces.” For many dancers, this means teaching, working other jobs, or finding innovative ways to sustain their artistic practice while paying rent.
Yet both artists have discovered unexpected gifts in this challenge. Brandon’s diverse work—from rehabilitative movement workshops in prisons to community action programs—has informed his choreographic approach and deepened his understanding of movement as a tool for healing and connection.

An Invitation to Discovery

When The Redirect comes to the Estelle Center for Creative Arts this August, they’re offering something rare: A chance to experience dance not as entertainment but as exploration. Their “Recipe for Dance” lecture-demonstration will pull back the curtain on their creative process, showing how movement emerges from questions, curiosity, and collaborative exchange.
The interactive format promises real-time creation, with audience members seeing their own responses translated into movement. It’s an approach that embodies their belief that everyone has something valuable to contribute to the creative conversation.
Their restorative movement workshop offers an even more intimate encounter with their philosophy. Starting with breath and building gradually toward full-body expression, participants can expect to leave with more than new movement skills—they’ll have tools for presence, awareness, and creative confidence that extend far beyond the studio.
As Celia puts it, “Dance is a natural unfolding just from this thing that we call living. We breathe; we move. There is vibration in the air. We receive it as sound. There is music; we dance.”In a world that often disconnects us from our bodies and our deepest questions, The Redirect offers a pathway home—to ourselves, to presence, and to the creative potential that lives within every breath and step. Come prepared not just to watch dance, but to rediscover your own capacity for embodied creativity and authentic expression.