Olga Smirnova, Marcelino Sambé, Maria Kochetkova updates .. and Polunin

These are some Instagram posts, which have recently caught my eye.

Dutch National Ballet Principal Olga Smirnova shared a post of her and her mother with a caption, "Practicing ballet with my mom and having fun together)" on 5th July 2025.

Smirnova told The New York Times in an article published in April that she had not seen her parents since she left the Bolshoi Theater soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Royal Ballet Principal Marcelino Sambé has recovered from a calf injury sustained in April 2025. He posted movie clips of him performing Albrecht in Giselle and rehearsing La Corsaire in the company's tour to South Korea in July.

Maria Kochetkova, former San Francisco Ballet Principal, said on 9th July 2025 that she "will be joining the line-up of teachers at the Royal Danish Ballet starting next season as well as continuing dancing mostly outside of Denmark." She was also with English National Ballet briefly, ending up with leaving the company before performing anything at all. Shiori Kase stepped in and performed the world premiere of Tamara Rojo's Raymonda. I admire Shiori but I would have loved to see Maria on stage. I have never seen her performance in person.

And.. I was debating myself if I should mention Sergei Polunin. Looks like the controversial Ukrainian dancer got yet another tattoo on his face. The post was posted a little while back in April.