Kaatsbaan Cultural Park to Present New Work Preview: Inkboat
This choreographic project combines traditional practices of Daoist Internal Arts with inkBoat's performance-devising practices.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Nov. 04, 2025
Kaatsbaan Cultural Park will preview new work from inkBoat as part of the Baryshnikov Arts Fellowship on Thursday, November 13 at 6PM.
inkBoat, a physical theatre and dance company founded by Shinichi Iova-Koga in 1998, performs Clouds from a Crumbling Giant. This choreographic project combines traditional practices of Daoist Internal Arts with inkBoat's performance-devising practices (rooted in the Japanese avant-garde), delves into the nature and quality of a body nearing the end of its run, and speculates on the afterlife and the tenderness of recognizing fellow travelers.
Shinichi Iova-Koga directs this work in collaboration with Jubilith Moore, Dana Iova-Koga, Dan Cantrell, Ellen Sebastian Chang, the inkBoat company and Hudson Valley residents, playfully touching on the nature of being and non-being.
inkBoat describes its company as: "Internal arts, physical theater, and dance occupy separate categories. Yet, here we practice all, each in its own container, subtly influencing one another."
Choreographer Sheldon Smith said of inkBoat's These are the Ones We Fell Among: "a captivating, haunting and bizarre dreamscape-like Dr. Seuss meets David Lynch on the last days of a bankrupt circus."
Shinichi Iova-Koga serves as the Artistic Director of the dance theater company inkBoat, founded by Iova-Koga in 1998. He has toured North America, Europe, South Korea, and Japan, often collaborating with local artists in museums, theaters, studios, and site-specific locations.
As a performer, Iova-Koga's long history with Butoh lurks within his presence, while his years of commitment to the art of improvisation unearth actions not beholden to a particular tradition. A lifetime in the martial arts and his deep investigation into the Daoist internal arts deeply inform his concepts of body, energy, and motion. As a director, he primarily works with scores that pit meticulous structure with vibrant agency.
inkBoat and Iova-Koga have been honored by numerous awards and grants, including 6 Bay Area "Izzie" awards and grants from NEA, MAP fund, New England Foundation for the Arts, California Arts Council, Rainin Foundation, Creative Work Fund, and Gerbode Foundation.
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." Iova-Koga works primarily in San Francisco, New York, and Luzern, Switzerland.
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