The "Water Theory" methodology for dance and performance by Christina Elias is a Training-Process (Treino-Processo) and choreographic creation program that establishes continuous practice as the essence of performance. The training aims at building a fluid, technical, and creative body that dances from a synesthetic and non-dualistic perception of the world, through the synthesis of Butoh, Aikido, Classical Ballet, and Somatic Arts.

The method systematizes her research around permeability, vulnerability, and passage, using water as a metaphor for adaptability and constant metamorphosis. The practical and continuous result of this method is the COREOGRAFE-SE (CHOREOGRAPH-YOURSELF) lab, where participants are guided to create their own form of movement, gesture, and choreography from the trained patterns, consolidating the methodology as a path of corporeal authorship.

Fundamental Concepts: From Structure to the Body-Tunnel

• Corpo Rachado (Cracked Body): Based on Christine Greiner's reading of Butoh, who adopted this term from the diaries of Butoh artist Kō Murobushi, this concept is key to the method's non-dualism. Murobushi describes it as a "body open to the concept of having no identity" fixed. The Cracked Body is permeable and vulnerable, a thin membrane that continuously negotiates the relationship between its interior and exterior, dissolving the boundary between the individual and the environment (Fudo).

• Training-Process (Treino-Processo) and Creative Repetitions: The repetition of movement patterns in daily training is not the search for a copy, but the engine that generates the new. The body functions as a living archive where memory is continuously updated and re/written, allowing creation (the emergence of the new) to arise in the instant of action.

• Vagar (Wandering/Drifting), Ma, and Internal Agitation (Deep Butoh): Vagar is the condition for somatic listening. The void (Ma) is a state of "semi-equilibrium" that emerges from the "clash of opposites", maintaining the internal agitation that is the engine of authentic and pulsating movement.

Matrice and Techniques of the Training-Process: Synthesis and Deconstruction

Technical Matrix

Specific Contributions

Application in the Training-Process

BUTOH (Practice and Fabulation)

Fabulation and Non-Dualism: The training deepens the continuous negotiation between the inside and outside of the body. It aims for the Cracked Body, which opens to vulnerability and body/mind non-dualism.

Creative Repetitions / State of Creation: The repetition of Butoh and Somatic patterns functions as the engine for the emergence of the new, training the body to maintain a permanent "state of creation". Exploration of Limit: Exercises of internal collapse, metamorphosis, and "dancing while walking".

CLASSICAL BALLET

Structure, Verticality, and Line: Initial training that establishes clarity of posture and the use of en dehors and diagonals.

Base for Deconstruction: Ballet forms are purposely deconstructed by the collapse and breathing of Butoh/Somatic practice. The training focuses on exercises that combine the strength of verticality with surrender to gravity (pliés with total expiration and internal collapse).

Somatics (Laban/Bartenieff, Feldenkrais)

Awareness of Internal Movement and Re-rooting (LBF): System that suggests "re-rooting" through revisiting developmental patterns (LBF), breaking dualities. Use of the "pelvic clock" (Feldenkrais).

Language of Push & Pull and Total Connectivity: Use of Yield & Push (grounding, separation from the other) and Reach & Pull (access to space, relationality) patterns to transform ineffective movement into organic action. Emphasis on the perception of the body's fluid systems.

AIKIDO and TALMI

Relationality and Energy Flow: Aikido and the TALMI method (Prof. Martin Gruber) focus on administering the flow in the inside-outside pathway of the body.

Partnering and Choreographic Force: Principles of to carry and to care and the use of trigger points to trace the lines of force (vectors) in the other's body. Maai (the right distance) is a choreographic tool.

VISUAL ARTS / PERFORMANCE

Aesthetics of the Object and Installation: Works that use the body as a malleable object in dialogue with media and materials.

Training for Site Specific: Training the body-light/shadow relationship and the performer's ability to become a sculptural/visual element that reacts in real-time, writing in space.

 

Plan of Study and Training: Synthesis and Choreographic Authorship

The Training-Process is taught in three progressive modules that use the structure of Classical Ballet for the somatic deconstruction of Butoh, culminating in the exercise of choreographic authorship.

​Module

Conceptual Focus

Technical Matrices and Key Deepenings

Module 1: The Permeable Body

Deconstruction and Internal Architecture

Classical Deconstruction: Use of Ballet technique (barre) as a structure to be intentionally broken by internal collapse (Butoh) and somatic expiration. Focus on the fusion of plié with surrender to gravity. Somatics: Use of the "pelvic clock" (Feldenkrais) and emphasis on the fluidity of the body's fluid systems.

Module 2: The Erodible Body

Fabulation and Non-Dualistic Language

Butoh and Fabulation: Deepened training in the continuous negotiation between the inside and outside of the body. Exploration of the Cracked Body aesthetic, which opens to vulnerability and non-dualism. Metamorphosis and Collapse: Exercises of internal and external collapse and metamorphosis into non-human beings or water (losing oneself in the waves).

Module 3: The Choreographic Body

Authorship, Relationship, and Site Specific

TALMI Partnering (Aikido/Feldenkrais Fusion): Martin Gruber's method is applied in the Choreography of Force, based on Aikido and Feldenkrais principles. Exercises of to carry and to care and the use of trigger points to trace the lines of force (vectors). COREOGRAFE-SE: Laboratory where the participant designs their personal language and choreography from the trained patterns. Performance as Installation: Training to respond to light/shadow and site specific sound.

 

Transdisciplinary Applications of the Methodology

The "Water Theory" methodology acts as a tool for creating corporal/mental language, with direct relevance to several fields.

1. Performing Arts (Dance, Performance, and Theatre)

   • Creation of Unique Vocabulary: Through the COREOGRAFE-SE lab, the method provides the tools for artists to create their personal movement lexicon from the trained patterns, consolidating choreographic authorship.

   • Site Specific and Immersion: The emphasis on the awareness of the Body-Channel and Fudo (body-environment relationship) trains the performer to act as a filter and catalyst of the environment.

   • Media/Language Transit: Prepares the body for the intersection with visual arts and literature, transforming movement into a form of writing in space and response to media and objects.

2. Therapeutic and Wellness Practices

   • Breaking Rigid Patterns and Habit Reset: The method uses Feldenkrais and the Reset principles of TALMI to promote body awareness and the relocation of non-functional tensions and postural habits.

   • Non-Dualistic Body-Mind Connection (Butoh/Greiner): By focusing on the Cracked Body concept, it encourages the acceptance of vulnerability and internal agitation as a creative force. It promotes a non-hierarchical perception of the self, facilitating the integration of mental and emotional states, and body-mind non-dualism.

   • Regulation of Relational Flow: The principles of Aikido (present in TALMI) teach the individual to manage the energy flow with themselves and with others, being valuable for building interpersonal relationships and stress management.

Certification and Recognition

The teaching of the "Water Theory" Training-Process by Christina Elias – a synthesis between somatic rigor, the philosophical depth of Butoh, and the deconstruction of Ballet – allows for the issuance of international certification in contemporary dance and performance through the CID – International Dance Council (UNESCO, Paris).