For generations, dance in Slovenia has been associated with one name: Adolf "Dolfe" Jenko. A passionate dancer throughout his life, Jenko shared his love of the art with thousands of students. And since his death, the school that bears his name has continued the master’s legacy.

Born in 1902, Adolf Jenko quickly gravitated to ballet. He was initially a student of the Czech-born master Václav Vlček and then spent time studying the art in Paris, where he received a degree from the prestigious Académie Royale de Danse.

He returned to Slovenia as a highly accomplished dancer, but was also determined to introduce the beauty of dance to ordinary people. In 1927, he founded a dance studio in Ljubljana that would help him share his knowledge with others. In the years that followed, Jenko emerged not just as an accomplished teacher, but also as a major promoter of dance as an art form. He introduced new styles to Slovenia, from the latest global trends – Charleston and the shimmy -- to folk dances from other Slavic countries. He spent time in teaching in other Yugoslav cities, and for a while, he even taught tourists in the resort town of Bled.

After World War II, the new Communist government nationalized the school. In 1947, however, the authorities allowed him to rejoin the school as a teacher. Even though he no longer owned the school, he was still able to share his love of dance with new, postwar generations of students.

Jenko retired in 1976 and died nine year later. The school that he founded almost 90 years ago lives on, still carries his name, and is still introducing thousands of eager Slovenians to dance. Meanwhile, a new bust in front of Ljubljana’s Kazina building, the original site of his school, honors the master who succeeded in bringing dance to ordinary people.