Alexei grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the sixth child of ten, and his parents were not wealthy at all. After the world wars that resulted in his father getting PTSD and becoming physically abusive, his mother ended up giving Alexei away to a ballet company when he was only six. She did it both to earn money to feed her other children as well as to get him out of that environment. Alexei lived in a harsh environment, often being forced to practice dancing for upwards of ten hours a day