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.
Dan Cantrell is an Emmy Award–winning composer and multi-instrumentalist known for his innovative film scoring approach, and his virtuosic abilities on the accordion, piano and musical saw.
“Hauntingly beautiful…quirky and energetic” says the San Francisco Bay Guardian. His extensive scoring catalogue spans a wide range of emotion and style.
Cantrell’s compositions for film and television have earned him numerous awards including an Emmy Award for KQED’s Home-Front, a Golden Gate award for the soundtrack to the documentary Divided Loyalties, and an Annie nomination for his work on three seasons of Cartoon Network’s the Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
His Orchestral music was recently featured by the Oakland Symphony, and his chamber music was performed at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the arts, and in Washington DC’s Kennedy Center. Cantrell also recently composed a suite of choral music performed by the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir as part of their yearly concert series.
Cantrell received the Gerbode grant to create the Rootabaga Opera, (a multi-media fire opera setting of Carl Sandberg’s classic American fairy tales) as well as the MAP grant to create Musical Fortunes, informed by Klezmer and Romani music, and performed by Kitka Women’s vocal ensemble.
