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Hey Timoth茅e Chalamet, we do care about ballet and opera!

He got tons of criticism for saying 鈥榥o one cares鈥 - how shady of him.

Timoth茅e Chalamet has come for ballet and opera. In an interview with Matthew McConaughey ahead of the Oscars he said鈥

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be working in ballet or opera or things where it鈥檚 like, 鈥楬ey, keep this thing alive even though it鈥檚 like, no one cares about this anymore.鈥欌

And, well, it turns out he was wrong, because lots and lots of people have been defending the industries with tons of passion.

And it did get us thinking - how do ballet and opera sales compare to how they have done in the past? Do many people watch them? What are people in the industry, like Misty Copeland, doing to get more people into theatres?

We get into it with Chelsea from the What in the World team (she鈥檚 also a ballet dancer, but sadly has never made it to a professional stage). And we hear from people who love ballet and opera, including two professional ballet dancers for The Australian Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld
Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk
WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6
Presenter: Iqra Farooq
Producers: Emily Horler, Chelsea Coates and Ash Mohamed
Video producer: Baldeep Chahal
Editor: Verity Wilde

Available now

13 minutes

Last on

Fri 13 Mar 2026 03:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 12 Mar 2026 18:50GMT
  • Fri 13 Mar 2026 03:50GMT

Podcast