Adnan Kabiljagic from Banja Luka arrived in Paris back in 1994. He did not know anyone, nor spoke French, and everyone advised him to start with a dance course.
“Salsa was a real revelation for me, both as a dance and as a therapy. Instead of going once a week, I was coming every day, and thanks to that, I made significant progress and reached the level of my instructors. Maybe this is some of our hidden Bosnian talents,” noted Adnan.
“I founded a dance troupe with my friends and performed at various salsa festivals. I participated in several films as a dancer, and the” Chili Con Carne” was the most famous of them. Dance has been a great love and passion for me, but only a hobby. However, in recent years I have decided to devote myself exclusively to dance. I am currently working as a professor of salsa at the Conservatoire – JB Lully de Puteaux,” he said.
Through the experience of working as a professor, he learned that dance has a much stronger effect than just the steps.
Kabiljagic recalled that the salsa experienced a full expansion in the 1920’s, and the roots of salsa are in Cuba. There are several different styles in salsa, and all of them are constantly evolving.
“I tried a few of them and I developed my own style based on Cuban salsa with a bit of the “LA”style (the style that was developed in the 1970’s in Los Angeles), to which I now add some elements of jazz and modern dance to which I devoted myself recently,” he said.
He also noted that salsa is nourished in BiH as well. There are numerous schools, congresses and salsa festivals.
(Source: klix.ba)