documentation: PRESS

“Dance on Land workshops are a communal dancing, cooking, cleaning and socializing experience.”
~Kathy Adams, The Salt Lake Tribune, June 21, 2017

“Impeccable timing and a choreographic arc that made each point but never overstayed the moment made evocative, organic statements.”
~Lou Fancher, San Francisco Classical Voice, October 19, 2016

“physical theater and dance company inkBoat… mixes humor, introspection, playfulness and memory with fearless gestures and thoughtfully crafted drama.”
~Mary Ellen Hunt, SF Chronicle, July 9, 2015

“Iova-Koga expertly mines the dark vein of absurdist humor that infiltrates butoh.”
~Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle, November 9, 2010

“Dancers roll on the floor, arch over the arc of a rolling wheel, fall and rise, and mix aggressive gestures with Butoh-like specificity, creating evocative imagery in each passing moment.”
~Claudia Bauer, East Bay Express, November 3, 2010

““Ame to Ame,” a title that plays on the Japanese homophones for “candy” and “rain,” tilts off of Butoh clichés into a more diverting realm. All in white amid a like-colored chair, stool, and table, the girlish Yuko Kaseki and the top-knotted, shirtless Shinichi Iova-Koga negotiate high-contrast switches between the anguished grimaces of Butoh past and the physical comedy of the silent era—manic chases, sleepwalking, and furniture pulled out from under. Theirs is a quirky romance, and its tender moments culminate in a drunken waltz.”
The New Yorker, 2009

“the inkBoat ensemble, and especially director Shinichi Iova-Koga, whose “c(H)ord” premiered Thursday night at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, are remarkably adept at generating simple images that you just can’t get out of your head.”
~Mary Ellen Hunt, SF Chronicle, April 26, 2008

“the friction between the deceptively, mulishly passive Mr. Koga and the slyly assertive Ms. Terman was delicately funny, revealed in a simple walk across the stage or a contretemps over a folding chair and a noisy radiator.”
~Jennifer Dunning, New York Times, January 9, 2006

“Iova-Koga somehow contorted into a ball, his arms move with such deliberate individuality that they look like worms sprouting from an eerily headless torso.”
~Rachel Howard, San Francisco Chronicle, January 26, 2007

“…inkBoat is at the forefront of a new generation. Founder Shinichi Iova-Koga creates startlingly imaginative psychological journeys of humor and horror…”
–San Francisco Chronicle, January 29, 2006

“…technical mastery and dark vein of humor runs through the performances…”
–Voice of Dance, August 10, 2004

“…moods and tempos freely incorporate elements of modern, jazz, and popular dance, all with captivating grace and precision.”
–Robert Avila, SF Bay Guardian, August 11, 2004

“The U.S. premiere of [inkBoat’s Ame to Ame is] operatic in its own way. While the only libretto was a panoply of keen gestures, extreme facial expressions, and Harpo-style physical maneuvers, the dancers’ bodies sang out the physical equivalent of songs—broken, dissonant, and often hilarious. Although there was no translation of these nonverbal arias, the dancers formed a portrait of mysterious yearning and frustration that was by turns comic, lyrical, ghoulish, and haunting.”
~Ann Murphy, Dance Magazine, August 12, 2004

“Hiding under mounds of a gorgeous fabric cloak, Iova-Koga softly blew a white kerchief from his face and peaked out curiously. A charming presence, he was rooted but levitating; within this tiny gem of a dance a path from dark to light moved like a stream. Eventually, letting down the burden of his cloak, he stomped on it as he turned in a slow circle. I overheard an audience member say “I want to marry that dance.””
~Alissa Cardone, The Brooklyn Rail

“Shinichi Iova-Koga has given us a solo performance that digests the horror of warfare and transforms it into a thing of hope.  A riveting performer of great skill and craft, Iova-Koga embodies the spirit of protest.”
~Sima Belmar, SF Bay Guardian

“But much like the unexpected humor in Kafka’s stories, these events trigger a quick chuckle, then an uneasiness sets in, which mirrors the dying man’s uncomfortable metamorphosis into frog, lizard, snake, insect….”
~Sam Prestiani, SF Weekly, 2001