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The Crazy Cloud Collection (summary edit: 5 minutes)

by Shinichi Iova-Koga

Have a good look - stop the breath, peel off the skin, and everybody ends up looking the same. No matter how long you live, the result is not altered. Cast off the notion that “I exist.” Entrust yourself to the windblown clouds, and do not wish to live forever. ~Ikkyu World Premiere at San Francisco International Arts Festival May 27th – 30th, 2010, Z Space @ Theater Artaud Produced and Presented by: inkBoat, U.S./Japan Cultural Trade Network and San Francisco International Arts Festival Co-Directors: Shinichi Iova-Koga and Ko Murobushi Performed by: Dana Iova-Koga, Ko Murobushi, Shinichi Iova-Koga, and Sherwood Chen Composers: Shahzad Ali Ismaily, Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi Song by Burt Bacharach, sung by Tom Jones Lighting Design: Allen Willner Costume Design: Currie Leggoe & inkBoat Props and Installation: Frank Lee (with assistance from Saara Reidsama and Catherine Reser) Ikkyu (1394-1481), is considered one of the most significant and eccentric figures in Zen Buddhism.…

4

Ame to Ame (furniture edit: 5 minutes)

by Shinichi Iova-Koga

Winner of "Best Ensemble Performance" award from the Isadora Duncan Dance Committee, SF 2005 "...there’s a natural empathy here, as the pair’s movements acquire a mirror relationship. The piece stresses contrasts. Movement is either graduated or manic. Isolated extremities, like flexed feet, succeed the turbulent deployment of the entire hurtling body. Episodes of silence follow volleys of percussive music; throughout Ame to Ame, the choice of music (composer Sheila McCarthy intersperses bits by Nils Frykdahl, Dawn McCarthy, Carla Kilstedt and Matthias Bossi with her own compositions) is eminently apt; while Ates’ unerring lighting scheme keeps us dazzled. The choreography grows ever less studied and more physical. Koga and Kaseki mount each other’s back. He beetles across the stage in a squatty walk that Chaplin might have envied, and they end with that most socialized and stylized of dance forms, a waltz." ~Allan Ulrich, VOICE OF DANCE Video taped October, 2009

4

c(H)ord (rattle edit: 5 minutes)

by Shinichi Iova-Koga

Conception, Direction and Choreography Shinichi Iova-Koga Choreography and Performance Takuya Ishide, Sten Rudstrøm, Yuko Kaseki, Heini Nukari, Dohee Lee, Dana Iova-Koga and Sherwood Chen Music Composition and Design Joshua Kohl Set Design Frank Lee and Mary Lois Hare Lighting Design Allen Willner Costume Design Johnny Kim Costume Assistants Dohee Lee (design advice and construction), Sevilla Granger (textiles), Saara Reidsama, Chelsea Heikes (textiles), Hana Hammer, Julie Brown (accessories design), Loo Lin, HIroki Saito (hair design), Elizabeth Sibel, Monica Kim Early Ensemble Work Haruko Nishimura Production/Stage Manager Samantha Schwartz Sound Consultation & Wireless Solutions Dan Rathbun Sound Manipulation Software created for c(H)ord Jeffrey Huston Production Assistance Joshua McDermott Production Volunteers Trey Donovan (instrument improvement), Jody Christian, Chelsea Heikes (outreach), Zachary Davis (set construction), Dragisa Krsmanovic Photography Momo…

4

ODD (summary edit: 5 minutes)

by Shinichi Iova-Koga

"ODD is a dreamscape in which shapes and ideas coalesce into metaphors -- if you are inclined to see that way -- only to evaporate into fragments that on their own keep building a continuum of fragile strength. I kept thinking of clouds that materialize into recognizable formations and blow apart at the next passing of a wisp of air. Tiny gestures -- a shaking head, a trembling limb -- might be barely noticeable on one dancer but they acquired weight when they turned up on other bodies. Often they suggested commonality or some kind of mysterious communication. Dancers might be spread apart, each one engaged in his or own exploration when Iova-Koga pulled them together into unisons of, for instance, unevenly upstretched arms and upward glances. "ODD's" pacing flowed almost filmically so when everything stopped, as it did several times, you held your breath. At one point an explosion left the stage sprawled as with corpses. The only motion came from a spinning wheel of an overturned wheel…