Where Substance Meets Air
The Arts at Sheridan College presents Where Substance Meets Air, a dance production of BW Creative on Thursday, April 25th at 4pm, and Friday, April 26th at 7pm, in Kinnison Hall at the Whitney Center for the Arts at Sheridan College.
Where Substance Meets Air, presented by BW Creative and Sheridan College, features works by Boulder-based creator Brandon Welch with a guest performance by students of the Sheridan College dance department. This evening of contemporary dance will feature two premieres and two repertory works including musical scores by Ezio Bosso, Franz Liszt, Dobrinka Tabakova and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Welch’s creations explore themes of breath, groundedness, wholeness and momentum while incorporating floor work, partnering and inversions. Welch returns to Sheridan, WY following a 2023 Ucross Artist Fellowship for his work with Helanius J. Wilkins.
“Ms. Gibney’s performers, dressed in white by Felicity Sargent, have skill, particularly Brandon Welch, an elegant, able partner” – New York Times, November 3, 2016
Brandon Welch is a dancer, teaching artist and creator with a passion for utilizing movement as a catalyst for social change. He holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance with a semester on exchange at the Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts. His performance career includes being a company member of Momix Dance Illusionists, Doug Varone and Dancers, Hannah Kahn Dance Company, Helanius J. Wilkins/SALT and Gibney Dance Company. During his time with Doug Varone, Brandon participated in Dance Motion USA’s cultural diplomacy program to South America and performed in Les Troyens at the Metropolitan Opera. Brandon has additionally performed works by Twyla Tharp, Zvi Gotheiner, Stephen Petronio, Hilary Easton, Reggie Wilson, Joanna Kotze and Ohad Naharin.
His performance career parallels a hunger to listen and bring people together through integrating dance, faith and social action. Beginning as an Artistic Associate of Gibney Dance, Brandon facilitated movement workshops for survivors of Intimate Partner Violence with guidance from Clinical Advisor Beth Silverman-Yamm. His advocacy fellowship, Movement Activists, served as an international network of artists and social activists. In 2017, Brandon began bringing his movement practices into public schools as a teaching artist with the 92nd Street Y, home of the Dance Education Laboratory, and Columbia College Chicago upon moving out of New York City. During this time, he received certification as a classroom educator with the Positive Discipline Association. In 2018, his work in dance education expanded to include rehabilitative movement workshops in correctional facilities throughout Pennsylvania and Colorado. Moving Meditations, created in collaboration with Abby Corrigan, offered continuing education credits for incarcerated men through the Denver University’s Prison Arts Initiative. Additionally, Brandon and his wife Hannah co-founded Awakening Movement as a community of dancers dedicated to exploring faith in Jesus through artistic expression. In all learning environments, Brandon centers his work around breath, groundedness, wholeness and momentum. Brandon currently resides in Boulder, Colorado and is a dancer, co-conspirator and community engagement coordinator for The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geo-Political Quilt to Re-Body Belonging with Helanius J. Wilkins, department chair at Colorado University at Boulder. This multi-year, dance and humanities work, created by Helanius J. Wilkins, shares site specific choreographic works in every US state and territory while building a diversity, equity and inclusion toykit and digital archive of the work.
In 2023, Brandon formed BW Creative for people to experience movement bringing joy through education, creation and activism. He continues to teach contemporary dance forms and acrobatics across the globe including DOCH University (Stockholm), Mimar Sinan University (Istanbul), HIGHFest Masterclass (Yerevan), MuDa Africa (Dar Es Salaam) and Dance Ensemble Singapore. Recent creative commissions include the Lamont Opera Theatre, Ucross Artist Residency, Mariposa Collective and Where Substance Meets Air to premiere at the Whitney Center for the Arts.
