Mentored by Gregory Hines, Andrew Nemr is an international artist, teacher, and speaker. His work has crossed music, dance, theatre, film, and the visual arts, exploring art as a vehicle for storytelling and community building. Andrew has played with Grammy Award winning musicians across multiple genres, founded the tap dance company Cats Paying Dues, and co-founded the Tap Legacy™ Foundation, Inc. (along with Hines).
“A masterly tapper” (New York Times), Andrew’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, grants, fellowships, and commissions, most notably from the National Endowment for the Arts, TED, Google, and Deutsche Grammophon. Nemr is recorded on the Grammy nominated recording Itsbynne Reel by Dave Eggar, the DVD Documentary and companion album Tuesdays at Mona’s by Mona’s Hot Four, and narrates the DanceTime Publications DVD, Tap Dance History: From Vaudeville to Film.
He is the topic of the award-winning documentary short film Identity: The Andrew Nemr Story, and hosts the podcast, Talking Notes. Artists Andrew has shared the stage with include Jazz greats Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Hank Jones, James Carter, and John Faddis, Harry Connick Jr., the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, and the legendary Les Paul. Performance collaborations include Nat Adderley, Jr., hammered dulcimer virtuoso Max ZT and House of Waters, cellist Dave Eggar, percussionists Susie Ibarra and Chuck Palmer, pianist and composer Or Matias, the eclectic roots band HollerJake, and visual artist Makoto Fujimura.
As a founding member and dance captain of Savion Glover’s TiDii, Andrew was featured in the critically acclaimed Improvography at The Joyce Theatre, NY, the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival 2001, the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, the 2002 Winter Olympics Arts Festival, and the 2002 Nijinsky Awards in Monaco. Andrew was also toured with and choreographed for the dance collective World Soul with house dance artist Brian Green.
Andrew's own tap dance company, Cats Paying Dues (2005-2015), presented the following critically and popularly acclaimed works All For Love (2005, Mainstage Theatre at Playwrights Horizons), Where the Music Lives (2008, Julia Miles Theatre, NY), Echoes In Time (2009, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, NY; The Egg, NY; Landmark on Mainstreet, NY), and Three Suites (2015, Tribeca Performing Arts Center). Other appearances included The QAS at Webster Hall (NYC), Jamaica Performing Arts Center (NY), The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (NYC), the Wesleyan University Center for the Arts (CT), Williams College (MA), BRIClab (NYC), and Celebrate Brooklyn (NYC). Return performances include Norte Maar’s Fete De Danse (NY) the Tap Extravaganza (NY), DUMBO Dance Festival (NYC), and the Jerry Lewis Telethon (National Broadcast).
Having been blessed by a myriad of mentors including Harold Cromer, Dr. Bunny Briggs, Dr. Jimmy Slyde, Dr. James “Buster” Brown, LeRoy Myers, Ernest “Brownie” Brown, Henry “Phace” Roberts, Dr. Henry LeTang, Mable Lee, Tina Pratt, Dianne Walker, Savion Glover, Ted Levy, and Gregory Hines, Andrew holds his responsibility as a teacher in high regard. He has taught at the high level of professional training studios (Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway), in higher education (Montclair State University and Queens College), at the local dance studio level, and continues to travel to teach workshops.
Past workshop hosts include multiple DMA Chapters, numerous international tap dance festivals (NYC, Barcelona, Stockholm), conventions (, and the NDEO National Convention and local chapters. An avid speaker, Nemr combines his story and the craft of tap dance to speak about identity, community, faith, and love. He has presented at the Fellow’s Stage at TED and TED Global, at numerous TEDx's, Wheaton College, International Arts Movement’s INHABIT Conference, Laity Lodge, the Future of Storytelling, and the World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
As the co-founder of the Tap Legacy™ Foundation, Inc., along with Gregory Hines, Andrew has produced numerous events, including tap dance festivals, and the New York City Celebration of the National Tap Dance Day, while developing tools that will support the oral tradition of tap dance through times of cultural change. These tools include a digital social archive, a traveling exhibit, and a series of online resources.
Andrew holds a BFA in Computer Art from the School of Visuals Arts, is certified in the Active-Isolated Flexibility System by the Wharton Performance Group, and is a card-carrying honorary member of the original Copasetics, Inc.
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