Post by Angela on Feb 1, 2007 3:44:02 GMT -5
Name: Aleksei Kristianovich Potemerenko
Date of Birth: April 9th, 1958
Date of Death: August 20th, 2001
Cause of Death: Stroke as a result of the heart condition Supraventricular Tachycardia.
A former dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet in the 70s, Aleksei was born and raised in Moscow. Aleksei was an outspoken man in favor of political change in Russia. He was an idealist, and unfortunately he was punished for his opinions and views by the ballet company, who, under orders from the KGB, made certain that Aleksei had smaller roles than he deserved.
The only thing that kept Aleksei in Russia was Anna Marakova, who later became Anna Dupont. Aleksei had tried to woo her for years, but like most men, failed to capture her heart. They remained good friends, however. They went to Paris one year on tour, where Anna met Gaetan Dupont, the man she married soon after. It broke Aleksei's heart and he felt he had nothing to stay for anymore. On their next tour stop outside the Soviet Union, Aleksei attempted to defect. Unfortunately he was caught, and upon his return to Russia he was ordered to leave the city of Moscow. He relocated to the town of Murmansk, near the Arctic Circle, and he didn't go alone.
He met a waitress in Moscow soon before his failed defection attempt. Her name was Maria Ilishina Smolenskaya. Heartbroken upon his order to relocate, Aleksei asked her to marry him. Together, they went to Murmansk.
Once there, they lived a life of poverty for several months, living in an abandoned building. The two made a living by selling food and other things on the street. Eventually, some kind people in the town helped the young couple, and they started to settle into a healthier lifestyle.
To the shock of Maria, Aleksei met a ballerina from Slovakia who was there for a ballet seminar. They fell in love, and Anna Timcek became pregnant with Evgeni Potemerenko. She kept the baby for a year until he was able to be given away, then gave him to Aleksei and Maria, because she had fallen on hard times and was unable to provide a healthy environment for the boy. Anna and Aleksei did not keep in touch, but were reunited in St. Petersburg when Aleksei took Evgeni there to train with coach Ivan Shotsky. They then began an affair that lasted 11 years.
Aleksei's health started failing in the late '90s, though he was never 100% healthy. In August 2001 he had his third heart attack. While he was in the hospital he suffered a stroke and died from it.
He came to Evgeni in January of 2002, in a dream. Dreams were the venue of choice at the time for him, but he has since switched to real visits. He comes to Evgeni often to offer counsel, comfort, advice and encouragement.
Unlike his daughter Nadyezhda, Aleksei prefers to live a quiet afterlife, mostly in Paradise. But on the occasion he does come to Earth, he only goes to see Evgeni, and that is only when the young man is alone, preferably at home.
