Jajačka Truska

The name of this joyous tune performed by Dragan Kulina's band is Bosančica (the lovely Bosnian girl.)

To this old Bosnian folk tune Sevdah dances the traditional dance from the central Bosnian town of Jajce [pron. Yaytse] entitled Jajačka truska. "Truskati" in Bosnian means "to shake" and, sure enough, the dance is very "shaky." Dancers, especially the men, shake their entire bodies, in particular their shoulders.

What attracts even more attention than their shaky shoulders is the vigorous movement of the lines of dancers in unpredictable directions, as the lead likes. Passing through "tunnels" made of dancers' arms is another characteristic of this lively dance.

Jajačka truska is definitely a Bosnian Muslim city dance. That is obvious from the fact that male and female dancers never hold each other on hands, but there is always a handkerchief between the two of them. According to the Islamic Law and the old Ottoman etiquette, it was considered impolite for a man to even try to touch the hand of a woman.

The rigorous religious education and fancy social norms of the Ottoman cities never took strong root in Bosnian and Herzegovinan Muslim villages. Thus, in their village dances Bosnian-Herzegovinan Muslim men and women almost always dance together holding each others on hands.

Sevdah's choreography for this dance was prepared by Rešad Makarević and Denis Bašić.