Here is what happened, as best as i can tell.
HAVING TO LEAVE TIMBRE AND OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE Timbre Music Academy was being closed for renovations so Lindy Live! at Timbre had to be shut down. Danny had commuicated to Sing and Sing had told me shortly. ** I had a meeting with Sing on how we were going to move forward. Sing wanted to continue working with Timbre and Danny, whereas i was not so keen. At this point in time, i was not teaching the Beginners (Lindy Hop 1 & 2 class levels) at Lindy Live! already (a story for another time), and at the new venture with Timbre, which would be at Timbre@Substation, there would only be beginner levels. Also, as expressed before, i had never really liked the bar/pub social dance setting. I have attended many socials at different bars and pubs before, Harry's at Boat Quay, BluJazz at Haji Lane, Jazz Inc's Socials at the Flyer Bistro, and then subsequently at Ink Bar at Swissotel and China One at Clarke Quay...but i have never found myself comfortable in those settings. I had always preferred a studio setting for social dancing. And to me, that was a big factor in me becoming the dancer i am today, a social in a studio setting. THE ENDING OF AN ERA Why do i say "the end of an era?" I am not the earliest batch of Lindy Hoppers in Singapore. Sinclair is from an earlier batch than me, i think somewhere about a year before me. Jitterbugs Swingapore, had started operations in 1996 or so, and they had always had a social. The first studio was at Tras Street, in Tanjong Pagar. I had not yet started dancing, so i have never been into the Tras St studio. Some current community members who have been dancing a long time may remember (like Gen, or Marz). My first encounter with Jitterbugs was at the Orchard Point Studio, what is now OG Shopping Center in Orchard. This was 2002. Back then, Jitterbugs Swingapore was having socials on Thursdays and this social was called "Swing Fling". I grew up with Swing Fling. Later on, Jitterbugs would move to MIllenia Walk, where briefly they would have Swing Fling on Sundays 4 to 6pm, which didn't work out so well, and later on, it was returned to its usual Thursday slot. When Jitterbugs moved to Cathay, Swing Fling was still on Thursdays 9 to 11pm. When Sing left Jitterbugs and created Lindy Live! at Timbre we maintained this social on Thursdays at the same time slot. You cannot imagine how many memories i have of Swing Fling. The many dancers and teachers i have met and danced with at Swing Fling. Swing Fling has been running on Thursdays 9 to 11pm. since before 2002. If you just count the years i have been attending swing fling, that would be 16 years. Swing Fling doesn't exist anymore for 2 reasons - 1. It was ALWAYS on THURSDAYS 9 to 11pm (except for the brief slot change to Sundays) 2. It was ALWAYS a STUDIO SETTING Sing has gone on to create Swingstation@Substation, but it's on a Monday and also its not a Studio setting. The end of the era, for me, means that Swing Fling is gone. 16 years of social dancing @ Swing Fling, is over. For sure, i had attended many other socials over the 16 years, but the only social i would ever call "home" was Swing Fling. I didn't want to take the name "Swing Fling" when i made the decision to start my socials on Fridays, it was something special that never really belonged to me, just something i was proud and happy and now sad, to have been a part of for 16 years. WHAT IS B SWING LINDY? WHAT IS "B"??!! My main aim in starting B Swing Lindy was to keep working (this was my job after all), and also to have a place to keep dancing in a studio setting. I had been tapping and teaching Leading Ladies at The Studio at Bugis for almost 2 years now, and i felt that i would be happy to organize socials there. The aircon is strong and the floor is sprung ok. (Tap dancers can tell if a floor is sprung from the sound, and how well "sprung" it is) At a meeting with the Timbre teachers, Hong Wee had also expressed his concern that 2 months with no socials was NOT a good thing. I felt the same way - i didn't want to stop dancing for 2 months (for personal reasons i do not attend Monday night socials, and i do only prefer to dance regularly in a studio setting), and so Friday night socials were born. "B" is the initial i usually use for my name, my parents and my close friends know me as B, and i always sign off emails as B, but B could also stand for many other things. Like bananas (i love bananas), or the word "Be", or the word "Best", or the word "Bonkers", all of which are important B words. So B Swing Lindy is NOT Brian Swing Lindy - that sounds terrible. The "B" is what you want it to "BE". I don't have any issues with that, only that you come dancing and have a good time at the socials. I do not like social media so much and have never had a proper Facebook or Instagram account. For B Swing Lindy, i was advised to create a facebook account and a page and also put myself on Instagram. I am very much a face to face person, and very much a "real life" and not "simulated life" person. I find social media and other online things take us away from the immediacy of staying in the present A LOT and i prefer to try and keep that discipline instead of being 23/7 on the mobile (even though i fail at that quite a bit). I don't think one can really be "friends" on FB, that's just a word FB uses. Friends are the people i see regularly in real life and we interact regularly in real life. But for events and social media presence i will be posting on FB and Instagram a fair amount moving forward. This concludes my short origin story and i hope to see you somewhere on the dance floor. -b. **this post has been modified from the original at the request of Danny, owner of Timbre. 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