Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Johan Inger completed his training at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and at the National Ballet School in Canada.
From 1984 until 1990 he danced as a soloist with the Royal Swedish Ballet and joined the Nederlands Dans Theater in 1990. During this time he danced many leading roles in choreographies of amongst others Jiři Kylian, Hans van Manen, Mats Ek, Nacho Duato, Ohad Naharin and William Forsythe.
Johan Inger has made four choreographies for the yearly NDT-workshop: No Name (1992), Maybe (1993), Next (1994) and Time an Angel (1995). Next and Time an Angel were included in the repertoire of the '10 Dancers Company', and have been performed during a tour to London and Sheffield in May/June 1995.