SHINICHI MOMO IOVA-KOGA, originally a photographer, filmmaker and theater director, entered the world of Butoh dance in 1991 (initially through Akeno Ashikawa and then consistently through Hiroko Tamano and Yumiko Yoshioka).  Childhood training in Judo (under Yuzo Koga) and early adult years studying Tadashi Suzuki Method of Acting (under Yukihiro Goto) influenced his expressions.  Improvisational theater methods such as Action Theater (under Ruth Zaporah) shaped his approach to the process of creating stage works.  In 1998, he founded the performance company inkBoat, whose productions reference Butoh dance as well as Physical Theater and filmic conventions.  Shinichi examines, dissects and intentionally blurs the line between various media to uproot and communicate stories contained within the body.

He and his wife Dana Iova-Koga founded inkGround, a studio in rural Northern California, to continue the exploration of stories through the land, utilizing the surrounding forests, rivers and ocean-side as new media for the life/dance investigation.

Shinichi has collaborated intensively with cokaseki (Germany: 2004-present), Yumiko Yoshioka and TEN PEN CHii (Germany: 1996-2001), Do Theatre (Russia: 1997-present), Minako Seki (Germany: 2001-2005), Shadowlight Theatre (SF: 1993-1997), Degenerate Art Ensemble (Seattle: 2001-present), and often creates improvisation evenings with longtime production collaborators Yuko Kaseki, Sten Rudstrøm and Cassie Terman.

Shinichi was named one of the “25 to watch” in 2008 by Dance Magazine and awarded a “Goldie” award by the SF Bay Guardian in 2007.  Shinichi and Yuko Kaseki won “Outstanding Performance” from the Isadora Duncan Awards (Izzie) for the production of “Ame to Ame” in 2004 and the Izzie award for “Visual Design” for inkBoat’s “Heaven’s Radio” in 2003.  Shinichi and inkBoat have received funding from Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, Irvine Foundation/Dance USA, Creative Work Fund, Japan Foundation, Zellerbach Family Fund, American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, CASH grant and the California Arts Council. 
Supported residencies include Headlands Center for the Arts in 2008, Wattis Artist in Residence at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2002, Schloss Bröllin, Germany in 2001, Fabrik Potsdam, Germany in 2001 and La Friche, Marseille, France in 1998.

German Version

inkOlogy: Curriculum Vitae for inkBoat works

Outside inkBoat (below):

Innocent Weapons
(as co-creator/dancer)
Trio performance of Koga, Ishide Takuya and Nagaoka Yuri.
The Pit | Tokyo | August 2005

adapt (site specific Berlin based performance company co-founded by Koga, Kaseki, Seki, Rudstrøm, Karavan and Willars).
The Hidden Garden (as co-choreographer/dancer)| Sapporo Art Park | Sapporo, Japan | July 2003
Glass Anatomies (as co-choreographer/dancer) | Staatsbank | Berlin | January 2002

Do Theatre (St. Petersburg, Russia)
(as dancer)
Nonsense | SF Arts International Festival, Theatre Artaud | San Francisco | May 2005
Nonsense | StadtTheatre Aachen | Aachen, Germany | Feb 2004 - June 2005
Bird’s Eye View | Monacco Dance Forum | Monacco | December 2004
Nonsense | Graz | Graz, Austria | June 2004
Bird’s Eye View | Herna | Herna, Germany | May 2004
Bird’s Eye View | Urgano | Urgano, Italy | February 2004
Bird’s Eye View | StadtTheatre Aachen | Aachen, Germany | December 2003 – March 2004
Civilization/Anti-Civilization | Schloss Bröllin, Germany | August 1998

Yumiko Yoshioka and TEN PEN CHii (Germany)
(as dancer)
Test Labor | Theatre am Halleshes Ufer | Berlin| June 2001
DA-PPi | Tacheles | Berlin | October 1998
Test Labor | Kana Theatre | Stettin, Poland | August 1998
Test Labor | Schloss Bröllin, Germany | August 1998
Jikken No. 11 | Klempenow | Germany | June 1998
DA-PPi | Orpheum Theatre | Graz, Austria | May 1998
Der Letzte Klang der Erde | Site specific | Graz, Austria | August 1997

Degenerate Art Ensemble
(as guest choreographer and dancer)
Rinko | On The Boards | Seattle | November 2000
Rinko | Moore Theatre | Seattle | September 2000
Rinko | Sand Point | Seattle | August 2000