The Will of Allah

Lindy Hop Spiritual Meditations: Part 1

If I were someone else overhearing me say that I joined the Swing Dance community in Singapore because it was the Will of Allah, I would have laughed myself out of the room, because what the hell is even that

I am dead serious, however.

How the heck did I end up in Swing Dance?

The coincidences and chance encounters that led me to the dance floor were myriad: The first cause, for context, was a bad break-up and the me suddenly having sweet fucktons of free time on hand, free from wedding prep.

The proximal cause, however, was an Olafur Eliasson exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum (interim campus) where I wandered into, feeling lost. My friend Joseph Chua, who I had lost touch with for many years, appeared again to me, and he invited me to watch a dance performance where he and a few other mates would be performing in. This was a dance that goes with an installation of rigged colourful lights that shone onto a semi-permeable wall across the room, so that any one (dancers especially) could cast moving shadows that looked interesting.

No one warned me that there was gonna be audience participation

So I found out about that bit when one of the other dancers took me by the hand out of the blue. She led me to the middle of the shadow room, and we danced something. It wasn't Swing and it wasn't the athletic and expressive flourishes that the dancers were doing right before; I remember it was fast and I just bullshitted all my moves. But, it just felt so good

In Catholic praxis, we had been taught that in prayers one could come to a place of desolation or a place of consolation. This bit was definitely a consolation; which was poignant, considering that I was in the middle of a very desolate part of my life. I took some time to ponder this fact.

I still haven't explained why Swing Dance, out of all possible dances

Back in October 2022, Miguel de Jesus was heading a cell group under the Archdiocese. Among the group members was Arisa McIntyre, who was very involved in Swing dancing. She invited Miguel to Aliwal Arts Centre one Monday evening, alongside Mark Pereira, and then Miguel invited me. That Monday night, 2 Opus Dei members found Lindy Hop for the first time.

My first impression of the group was that, even for someone from the famously shady Opus Dei, that the community seemed cult-like. People were smiling way too much, seemed way too happy, were too friendly to outsiders, and everything was self-referential i.e. about the dance. However, after the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, where I was demurring which kind of dance class to get into, these qualities were also what came to my mind.

Lindy Hop is a happy dance. It grew out of the culture of slaves, and then of the working class. It is a silly dance. It is a dance danced by people who do not take themselves too seriously. These people live a life liberated from their harsh inner voices. They put adequate cardio into their exercise regimes. And, I think, I would like to be more like them.

What about my sister? How come she joined too?

I got her into it. Jamie could do with opportunities to meet new people. There is a discount for people who sign up for class with a friend, besides. 

[Spoiler alert: One year on, she is absolutely killing it. She's a great dancer]