Shinichi Iova-Koga serves as the Founder and Artistic Director of inkBoat. The dance theater company has received six San Francisco Izzie awards  and has toured in Europe, Asia and the USA.

A lifetime in the martial arts and his deep investigation into the Daoist internal arts deeply inform his concepts of body, energy and motion. He teaches Qi Gong, Dao Yin, Yang Sheng Gong and Nei Gong. His credentials to teach come through Lotus Nei Gong International and Wudang West. He holds a 2nd degree black belt in Aikido (with teachers Jan Nevelius, Jorma Lily and Cornelius Jaeger-Herzog). He trained in Judo under his father, Yuzo Koga, a 6-time USA Judo champion.

He is the editor of the book 95 Rituals, a tribute to Anna Halprin, and a contributing writer to The Routledge Companion to Butoh Performance. He is featured in the book Butoh America.

Shinichi is an Authorized Action Theater™ teacher through his mentor Ruth Zaporah. Other significant mentors are Ralph Lemon, who instigated ideas about “anti-dance,” and Anna Halprin, who encouraged community building through the art-making process. Shinichi served as Anna’s associate director for numerous projects from 2009-2012 and co-taught dances for men with her until 2018.

Significant collaborators include Ko Murobushi (Butoh Dance), Ann Carlson (Contemporary Dance), Rova Saxophone Quartet (Jazz),  Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (Experimental Rock Band), AXIS Dance Company (Mixed Ability Contemporary Dance), Yuko Kaseki (Butoh Dance), Yumiko Yoshioka and TEN PEN CHii (Butoh and Installation Art) and Do Theatre (Physical Theater). 

He is grateful as well for his formative time in Hiroko and Koichi Tamano’s Harupin Ha and Larry Reed’s Shadowlight Theater in the early 1990’s. 

Shinichi teaches each year at ImpulsTanz in Vienna, independent workshops (live and online) and within University dance programs.