The Human Skills Advantage: Why the Future of Opera and Ballet Starts with Arts Education
- Trina Martin
- 16 hours ago
- 3 min read
Last week, actor Timothée Chalamet made comments about the state of opera and ballet that sparked conversation across the internet. Many rushed to defend these art forms, pointing out their beauty, history, and cultural importance.
They’re right.
But the conversation shouldn’t stop there.
Because the real issue isn’t simply whether opera and ballet survive as professional art forms. The deeper question is how we ensure that the skills required for live performance continue to exist at all.
The Challenge Facing Live Performance
Across the arts sector, live performance organizations are struggling.
Yes actors, like Timothee Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey, need to fight for the rights to their name, image and likeness, but we also need to fight for the live experience not just what can be consumed on screens. Unfortunately, organizations, like opera and ballet companies, are navigating shrinking attendance and rising costs for performance venues.
But, as a society, we can’t afford to lose live performance.
Not just because of culture or entertainment.
Because of what live performance teaches.
What You’re Really Seeing on Stage
In my TEDx talk, “AI Can’t Replace This: Why Arts Education Matters,” I explain that when you watch a student or professional perform music, dance, or theater, you are witnessing something deeper than artistic talent.
You are seeing The Human Skills Advantage™
Each performance represents years of practicing:
delayed gratification
discipline and grit
time management
collaboration
resilience
and perhaps most importantly, the ability to overcome nerves and deliver in one shot
And that last skill matters more than we often recognize.
The “One-Shot” Skill
At some point, every one of us faces a moment where we have to perform under pressure.
A job interview
A major presentation
A client pitch
A leadership moment.
In those moments, nerves don’t excuse you from showing up. There are no second takes. You have to deliver.
Traditional academic classrooms rarely have the time or structure to develop this skill consistently over many years.
But performing arts classrooms do.
Every rehearsal builds toward a live performance where students must step on stage and deliver in real time.
No edits. No redo. Just preparation, resilience, and focus.
(Plus, ask any performer or teacher, there is almost always something that happens in the 11th hour that drastically changes the performance.)
That’s real world skill building! That's The Human Skills Advantage™
The AI Conversation Is Missing Something
When conversations about the arts and AI happen, they often focus on the future of film, media, or digital creation. Those are important discussions and absolutely need to be addressed and solved.
But the bigger question is about human skills that every student must develop in the age of AI.
As technology advances, the skills that remain uniquely human (communication, collaboration, creativity, emotional intelligence, resilience, and performing under pressure) become even more valuable.
And one of the best places these skills are developed is through performing arts education.
Arts Education Also Sustains the Arts
Yes, arts education is important for every student due to building skills for every career, but there is an added bonus...
If we want professional opera, ballet, theater, and live music to exist in the future, we have to start much earlier.
Professional performers don’t simply appear.
They are students first.
They are the children in school choirs, dance classes, theater programs, and orchestras who spend years learning the discipline of rehearsal and the courage of performance.
Without strong arts education programs, the pipeline of performers, and the audiences who appreciate them, disappears.
What We Can Do
Supporting the arts doesn’t start with buying tickets to professional performances.
It starts closer to home.
Ask whether your local schools offer music, dance, theater, or visual arts programs.
Support their fundraising efforts.
Attend student performances
Encourage young people to participate.
Participate in The Human Skills AdvantageTM Data Project found on parentsforartseducation.org
Because this generation isn’t just career building, they are skills building .
And some of the most important human skills that come from LIVE performances, like overcoming nerves to deliver in one shot, are developed through the performing arts.
The very skills that bring opera and ballet to life on stage.
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