Biography

Dana Iova-Koga

Dana Iova-Koga began her intensive study of dance at New York University's Experimental Theater Wing, under teachers Tamar Rogoff and Mary Overlie. As a student at NYU she performed in productions directed by Annie B Parsons & Paul Lazar (“Little, Big”) and Maureen Flemming (“Mondala” 92nd St Y.) She went on to tour Eastern Europe with La MaMa's Great Jones Repertory Company in a dance opera version of “Oedipus”.
Her exploration of dance deepened when she joined Min Tanaka's farm and dance company, Tokason, in the countryside of Japan in 1997. From 1997-2002, she danced in dozens of performances under Tanaka’s direction. Performances played in theaters large and small in Japan, the United States and Europe, as well as in rice fields, forests and museums.
From 2003-2005, Iova-Koga continued to explore the body in relation to nature, performing solo in “Firefall,” 2003, “drop deep suite,” 2005 and “May’s Landing,” 2005. In September 2005 she performed in “Rose Colored Mountain” as part of a site-specific event directed by Shinichi Iova-Koga in the wilderness of Montana.
Dana danced in “c(H)ord,” her first inkBoat production, in April, 2008 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
She is co-founder of inkGround, a place where dance and it’s relationship to nature are studied.