I have a background in theatre, and a history of ballet classes that ended badly when I moved town, and my teacher, who didn't like me, refused (despite my mother's intervention) to let me take a Grade 3 exam which I'd been working for. (She was more concerned about her results than her students.) There's very little ballet performed in Ireland, and less in small towns, so I saw virtually none when I was growing up. I did a degree in drama and theatre studies, and two years later went to see AMP's Swan Lake in the West End of London, which blew my mind. I then went along to see a classical Swan Lake at the Royal Ballet and giggled my way through it. 19th century theatre was a specialist area of mine at uni, and here it all was, carefully preserved. I also met a ballet regular, who urged me to come and see Sleeping Beauty, and then I was hooked! Then I began writing (a review of AMP's Highland Fling), sold my first review less than a year later, and got the job as dance critic of a British newspaper about two months after that.
What I miss most about the closed Royal Opera House is cheap standing room - it's not the same if you have to sit down (sniff!)