About Us
Between 1991 and 1994, working with Ryan Francois and Julie Oram, and while establishing a successful career as a copy writer, Sing Lim ran Jitterbugs London, London's premier Lindy Hop venue.
Jitterbugs Swingapore began in Oct 1994 when Sing returned from London. With no permanent home and with the kind support of Singapore Chinese Girls School, the Lindy Hop community in Singapore was mainly confined to a small group of friends, but the interest grew sufficiently to produce a full 2 hour show “SWING OUT” for the 1995 Singapore Arts Festival Fringe.
In late 1995, Andrew Vassiliou moved to Singapore and till mid 1999, he and Sing taught, performed and competed together not only in Singapore, but also in Australia, Japan and the United States.
In Aug 1998, Jitterbugs Swingapore found a home for itself at 78 Tras Street. Fen Tonge gave up a job in personal banking and took on the full time running of the studio as Chief Financial Officer as well as boosting the teaching staff.
By 2000, our classes had outgrown the Tras Street studios. New premises were soon found, at Orchard Point, right on buzzing Orchard Road. With more than 2000 square feet, we could provide 2 studios with floor to ceiling picture windows overlooking leafy streets. On 26 August 2000, celebrity actor / director Glen Goei declared Jitterbugs Swingapore @ Orchard open!
Together with Lionel Araya (till early 2003), Jitterbugs Swingapore expanded to include Latin dances - Salsa and Salsa Casino, building more interest in partner-dancing, as well as Hip Hop and Jazz.
In 2003, Jitterbugs Swingapore moved to a 5,000 sq ft space in Millenia Walk (with a 6-month, temporary place in Millenia Tower). With 3 spacious studios, we continued to build our classes, developing our children's programmes and constantly adding new innovative classes like Grrl Power. In addition to growing and grooming our home-grown talent, we also often featured guest instructors from around the world (literally) to keep us on our toes.
In 2007, with the addition of Linna Tan (previously of TheBodyTalks) to our team of full-time teachers, we added Ladies Salsa Styling, Pole and Exotic dance classes to our schedule.
In August 2009, we moved to The Cathay, where we currently occupy 8,400 sq ft of space. We now offer 6 studio spaces, including a Ballet studio complete with dance mat. Jitterbugs Swingapore now also includes Talent Avenue, a talent company aimed at grooming and representing dancers, singers and the best in the entertainment industry.
In April 2010, we partnered the world's foremost Pole Dance studio - Bobbi's Pole Dance Studio from Sydney, Australia. Bobbi is one of the pioneers of the art of Pole Dance as we know it now and her studio also produces the annual Miss Pole Dance Australia competition. Bobbi's Pole Studio Singapore was opened at 222 Queens Street, with the official opening in Aug 2010, boasting 2 dedicated studios with 18 poles each. With the opening of the new Pole studio at 222 Queen Street, Jitterbugs Swingapore ceased conducting Pole and Exotic Dance classes at The Cathay.
Today, we continue to develop Jitterbugs Swingapore into a dance and entertainment lifestyle company in Singapore and the region, building communities in Lindy Hop, Salsa, Jazz, Hip Hop, and offering performances, social parties, workshops and schools outreach programmes.
Our Vision
We want to be the dance and entertainment company of your choice, whether you are an individual looking for happysexypassionatecool dance classes or a business looking for professional entertainment and events management.