So Yon Nam studied classical ballet in her native Korea, entering the Seoul Art High School and majoring in dance. Upon graduation in 1993, she went on to Moscow`s Bolshoi Ballet Academy studying the Russian Vaganova style. In 1995 she was invited to join the world-renowned National Ballet Company of Korea, where she danced many leading roles in classical ballets including Giselle in Giselle, Nikiya in La Bayadère, Mercedes and Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote, and Odette in Swan Lake. She toured with the National Ballet Company of Korea to Egypt and the Karmiel Dance Festival in Israel in 1997.
From 1999 to 2005, Ms. Nam danced with Ballet Internationale where she performed the principal roles in Phaedra, A Thousand and One Nights, Don Quixote, Creation of the World, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty, Marz (choreography by Jorge Mannes), Peter Pan, Giselle, Dracula, Raymonda, Melody (choreography by Asaf Messerer), Carmen, Carnival in Venice, and The Nutcracker. Ms. Nam toured in Canada, China and Taiwan with Ballet Internationale, and returned to Korea to perform with Ogulcan Borova in the Korea World Dance Stars Festival in 2003. She also taught master classes at Seoul Chung-Ang University and Tae-gu Kei Myung University, and summer intensives in DaeJeun, Taegu, Phohang, Seoul, Busan, and BuFyung. In 2008 she was honored with an invitation to dance as a guest of Tae-gu Modern Dance Company in her hometown, and in 2012 she was invited to dance in Yeong-gul Kim’s La Vie & La Mort with the guest artists and company members of the Korean National Dance University.
Ms. Nam began to transition from performing to teaching in 2006 and was a Ballet Instructor with the Russian Ballet Academy of Indiana for five years. In 2010 she joined the faculty of the Ballet Theatre of Carmel, and also spent a season (2018/19) teaching at the Indiana Ballet Conservatory. Today she teaches Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced and Day Program classes at the Ballet Theatre of Carmel Academy, and is a coach with the studio’s Soloist Initiative program for Youth America Grand Prix competitors.