Mr. Nelson began his training under Joyce Morrison and continued full-time at the School of American Ballet (SAB) in New York City, the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC, and the Ecole-Atelier Rudra Béjart in Lausanne, Switzerland.  At the Vail International Dance Festival in 2000, he studied with Jacques Namont of the Paris Opera Ballet School and Pyotr Pestov of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.  

As a dancer, Mr. Nelson's répertoire included Les Sylphides (Poet), Giselle (Peasant Pas de Deux), and Swan Lake (Pas de Trois), among others.  

Mr. Nelson has taught at The Washington School of Ballet and Mercersburg Academy, and is currently on faculty at the Dance Conservatory of Maryland. 

He was honored to be a guest teacher for the 2021 Fall Conference of the East Coast Committee of the Cecchetti Council of America (CCA). Mr. Nelson was the 2022 recipient of a full scholarship to attend the CCA's Summer Teacher Seminar. 

Mr. Nelson is an ABT Certified Teacher, having successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT National Training Curriculum (NTC). His previous pupils have completed NTC student examinations, achieving the following levels of distinction: Merit, Honors, and High Honors. He continues to attend professional development classes and workshops at ABT. 

He is a Cecchetti Council of America certified teacher member, qualified to coach from student Grade 1  through the Advanced.professional  level.

And, in 2023, following intensive coaching with  Pamela Moore (Diploma Fellow, CCA) and Cara Drower (Diploma Fellow, ISTD), he was awarded the Enrico Cecchetti Final Diploma by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD).