LIFE

Finding the Right Turn

Guru, Catherine Napalai Faulder, Published on 18/10/2019

» It's not often that a professional ballet dancer from San Francisco elegantly pirouettes his way through Bangkok to demonstrate and share his expertise. Ikolo Griffin was spotted as a star and immediately recruited by the San Francisco Ballet company at the age of eight and never looked back. In the last 30 years, his passion for ballet has seen him twirl on reputable stages, from the San Francisco Opera house, Paris Opera House and the Lincoln Center, New York to Dance Theater of Harlem and The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. But Griffin has a different kind of spin to him. He decided to give back to the dance community by simplifying the very thing every ballet dancer dreads: the pirouette. Since then, his "Just Turns" workshop has been changing the lives of many dancers across the US. Now he's taking over the world -- one turn at a time -- as he arranges his workshops in other countries. GURU speaks to Griffin about his upcoming visit to Bangkok in an exclusive interview!