The largest and most diverse republic in the northern Caucasus, Dagestan stayed peaceful during the period of violence that erupted in neighbouring Chechnya after the fall of the USSR. But in recent years, clashes between police and Islamist rebels have intensified.Caught in the middle are Dagestan’s civilians, many of whom live in remote mountain villages. ‘Most of the tightrope walkers live in auls 2,000 metres above the sea level where the tradition was born hundreds of years ago,’ Slesar explains