After months of touring across the globe, on October 29th, Andrew Nemr found himself in Vancouver. Two years ago, Andrew received a call from Sas Selfjord, the founder and at the time, Executive Director of Vancouver Tap Dance Society. She was toying with the idea of retirement and, with what can only be described as intuition, decided to call Andrew to propose that he consider filling her tap shoes.
Inspired and mentored by Gregory Hines, and having toured with Savion Glover, Andrew is no stranger to the world of tap. At 9 years-old, he watched the film “Tap” and quickly decided that he wanted to become a professional tap dancer. He had mapped out his newfound dream and told his parents that he was going to meet Gregory Hines. Not long after the age of 9, Andrew met Gregory at a tap workshop in NYC and the rest is history.
We asked Andrew how he feels about his new position as Executive Director at VanTap, to which he answered “it’s what I am supposed to be doing.”Andrew describes himself as a sieve where he feels it is his responsibility to respect VanTap’s past and bring what worked previously to the present but with new, fresh ideas.
“it’s what I am supposed to be doing.”
We asked Andrew what has made VanTap successful over the last 22 years, and he stated “its unrelenting desire to see ‘the thing’ happen.” The thing being the waves of impact that come when a group of people share their love of a craft together ultimately creating a sense of family and community.
Andrew is new to the neighbourhood, but loves the small town feel of The East Village. When Andrew is not at the studio, he likes to go for coffee at Platform 7 or go for brunch at The Red Wagon. VanTap has plenty of events coming up, the next one being their Spring Fundraiser on March 1st at 7pm at the Russian Hall in Strathcona.