The Notes with Andrew Nemr

A few summers ago, I had the opportunity to take a three-day one-on-one coaching experience. It was intense. For eight hours a day for three days straight, I unpacked, and thankfully re-packed my life. In the unpacking, I encountered streams of momentum that I had found myself in that I was battling. I didn’t want them, and yet I didn’t really know how to change them. Frankly, I hadn’t had languag...

Almost a year-and-a-half ago I began meeting with a small group of folks. We had gathered with the express intent to explore a particular speech by Jesus, commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. We gave ourselves a long time to go through the three chapters found in the book of the Matthew. We met once every two weeks. We worked through the three chapters a few lines at a time. During our time...

I have a habit. Whenever something is not working, I try to take it apart, look at all the parts, see if I can see what isn’t working, and then make the necessary adjustments to get things to work. I do this all the time in Tap Dance Land. If a step isn’t working, I take is apart. I check the movement, rhythm, and sounds for errors – places in which what I’m aiming for and what is happening aren’t...

In the upper room, in his final moments with his friends, Jesus decided that he would wash their feet. This was a gesture full of symbolism. He, having been their teacher and leader, would take the position of a servant. In doing so, Jesus worked to continue to undermine the stereotypical ideas of teachers and leaders that would often come to mind for his friends. The recounting of this moment, fo...

This past week I’ve been struggling. Publicly you likely wouldn’t notice it. That’s part of the deal, isn’t it? Keep producing content in the manner and aesthetic that you’ve come to be known for over time and keep the internal struggles to yourself. It is the way of achievement-orientation. There is an analog in Tap Dance Land, oddly enough. Executing the most regular of rhythms – imagine a serie...

In continuing this journey of cross-learning, if you will, it may seem that I’m going a little further beyond my scope of knowledge. After all, time and space are the areas of specialty for those pursuing metaphysics. Maybe others, too, the spiritualists among us, but not tap dancers. Without bringing up any number of valid defenses now, I’ll just say this: I’m venturing here hoping to work out so...

In the past few weeks I’ve been exploring connections between seemingly unconnected areas of life – oral traditions and organizations and the arts and who we are. This week the connection is a little more obvious, although I find it to be still quite profound. I’ll let you be the final judge of that. In today’s note, I’m exploring the deep connection between how we understand choice, and what we t...

The arts – heightened expressions that ignite our senses through a multitude of mediums – are something of a wonder. The decision to pursue an artistic craft is often deeply inspired, filled with challenges and hope, and rarely easy. The pursuit itself is filled with choices. At every stage of development – from being grafted into a tradition, discovering how our voice interacts with each medium,...

Ted Levy was the first to teach me to use things I saw in world around me (like exposed pipes) to inspire what I could find in Tap Dance Land. If a set of pipes could inspire a tap dance step, what kind of dancing could come from other areas of inspiration? What other kinds of connections could be possible? Over the next few weeks, I’m going to attempt to draw out some of the connections I’ve expe...

Improvisation can be seen as the fountain of creativity. After all, when someone improvises, new things are just coming out of them like an endless flow of inspiration. What we don’t see are the hours upon hours of training that an improviser goes through, immersing themselves in their respective crafts. This week we talk about what those hours might look like. Related Links: * 10,000 to mastery r...

What comes out of us - the creative choices we make in art and in life - are tangibly shaped by our pre-dispositions, training, and experiences of love. This week I’m journeying through some of these ideas at this complex intersection. To help me, I’m using the practice of improvisation, the form of tap dancing, and the assumption of the power of choice as guideposts. Related links * The Sonny Rol...

Relevant Links: * What We Leave Behind * Nuach, Rest for the Soul * Drop me line This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit notes.andrewnemr.com/subscribe

I’ve been thinking a lot about growth lately. Growth requires change, but many people have a negative association with change. If not outright negative emotions, change can bring about some nervousness or excitement with it. Why? In part, I think it is because the final outcome of the change is actually unknown in a deep and fundamental way. If final outcomes are unknown, and all the other things...

I knew I wanted to be a tap dancer when I was 9 years old. How? What drew me in, fueled the pursuit, and allowed the work to happen? I think these questions begin to press against something a lot deeper than “It was meant to be” or “I”m some sort of unicorn.” They begin to illuminate the idea that we may all have a kind of inner compass – something that points us in particular directions. That ide...

There seems to be an order of operations when it comes to things. Learning is progressive. Formation is progressive. I’m not saying everything is linear – it may be cyclical or like a spiral. However, it does seem that trying to build a house without a foundation is akin kicking against the natural order of things. This week I’m thinking about what might be first. What should I focus on first? Wha...

Have you ever been so wrapped up in something that you felt you couldn’t get away? I’ve been thinking a lot about immersion lately – the kind we opt into, and the kind we find ourselves in. Frankly, I’ve come to see life as an immersive endeavor. We’re in it whether or not we wanted to be – and we are ALL IN. So, I’m asking myself this question: What, if anything, can be done for an individual per...

My first tap dance coaching session started with a simple request, “Give me two bars.” I had know idea how formative such a small practice would become for me. I used it as I grew, in choreographing for my dance company, and even today as my personal practice continues to evolve. It seems to me foundational practices are key in any pursuit, even that of engaging with the formation of our inner wor...

Last week I made an assertion without qualifying it. This week I’m qualifying my assertion for clarity. Some ideas are foundational, others are not. Some ideas function in all aspects of life, others do not. The idea of letting go of searching for a single holy root may be healthy for journeying in the world of tap dance and other kinds of activities. When it comes to life, especially in light of...

The summer of 2020 sparked a deep and fruitful conversation within the tap dance community. This week’s note is thinking about how this conversation was approached, the framing around it, and how we approach similar conversations in general. What if our search for a beginning, a single root, or inventor, was replaced by a journey into the hearts of all those who came before us? That we might be en...

This week I’m thinking about the challenges faced with writing cumulative histories – the natural limitations of time and space, the stories that get included and excluded, and the people that are affected. If we think about stories as mediums that speak to the formation of a life, what happens when they are incomplete? LINKS: Bunny Briggs This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this wi...

What does Lebanon, Tap Dance Land, and algorithms have to do with each other? They all have to do with people. This week I work through the idea that microcosms can be great areas of learning. They teach us about how a particular group of people may begin to think and act given certain circumstances. Microcosms become even more interesting when we acknowledge the intersections they sit at. The num...

Ever wondered where the work was? You know, the work that would bring about real change. The kind of change that we could see, and know to be good. Identifying that work, has a lot to do with how we think about impact. In this week’s note I begin to share a bit about how I’ve been thinking through these questions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or ge...

What happens when a good thing begins to serve itself? What happens to the people involved? This week I endeavor to work out how such a thing can happen, and how we may try to prevent it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit notes.andrewnemr.com/subscribe

What are the things that keep us from growing? In thinking about this question I’ve come to identify the experience of the snapback. That is, that moment when we find ourselves pulled back into an old habit, reactive decision, or norm. The things we used to do, and the people and places associated with them, can have immense pull in opposition to our own growth and transformation. EPISODE LINKS *...

This week I think through the idea of resonance and how it is connected to movement, formation, and the knowledge of good and evil. Episode Links: * Project Nuach * Victor Wooten Interview on Apple Podcasts * Victor Wooten TED ED Video * My TED ED Video This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit notes.andrewnemr.com/subscri...