At the age of 9 she was offered a place at Circus School and at the age of 11 won a place at The Royal Ballet School, neither of which she was allowed to accept. Her father told her to “get a proper job” but luckily for us Janet kept on dancing!

Janet worked as a cabaret dancer with her good friend Hazel Ann, performing for the James Last Band and later owned 2 dancewear shops.

Janet began teaching under the name of Jane Emily Dancers (named after her shops) in 1985, later settling in Norfolk where she ran classes from various village and school halls. As the number of children escalated the now-named Janet Wright School of Dancing held classes in Long Stratton, Wymondham and Newton Flotman as well as the original Harleston classes, and later brought in extra teachers, including her own daughter Vickie, to help her handle the numbers.

Janet had always harboured a dream to run her dance school from a purpose built studio and in 1997 she and Vickie acquired the old school building in Newton Flotman. A year later the Anglia Region Theatre School (known to us as A.R.T.S) was born and has gone from strength to strength.
Email: Janet

Victoria Winship F.N.A.T.D. Fellow / Examiner - Principal
Vickie began dance classes at the age of 2½ at the Hazel Ann Academy in Wickford. At the age of 11, she moved to the full time Stage school Arts Educational, Tring where she boarded for 5 years before transferring to the London school. During this time the family moved to Norfolk where she assisted in teaching at the then Jane Emily School of Dance and gained her teaching qualifications in ballet, tap, modern stage and disco freestyle.

Vickie worked throughout her college years doing promotion work, modelling, dancing and even spent one summer holiday on board a Greek cruise ship. She danced in various shows including the Thursford Christmas production, the Johnny Pellar Show, Sheffield, the Battle of Britain Benefit, the Rank Xerox Carnival - to name but a few. She was part of a Cabaret group and performed at many top London Hotels including Kensington, Heathrow, Piccadilly and Park Lane. Promotion work included many top Norwich stores and also works for Hyundai at the Birmingham Motor Show. In 1992, she danced in Dick Whittington at the Theatre Royal in Norwich and then went on to spend the next 5 years cruising the world with P&O Cruises and the sister company Princess Cruises. She travelled to many places including the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Alaska and a 3 month World cruise.

Vickie is qualified in all areas of Dance to Fellowship standard as well as Piano, Drama, Singing and Aerobics. She was appointed a Dance Examiner for the NATD in 2004 one of the youngest ever to do so - and examines other schools regularly all over the country.
Email: Vickie

Andrew Winship - Business Development Manager
Andrew began his musical journey at the age of 7 playing piano, but very quickly began performing in theatres from the age of 11. Since then, Andrew became a professional musician at the age of 21, and over a period of 14 years gained valuable experience touring the country at the top of his discipline.

Since his semi-retirement from performing in 1999 Andrew has established and developed several commercial businesses extending his portfolio of skills yet further.

Andrew has held a substantial role at ARTS since 1999 where his experience and skills complete the ARTS Management Team of which he currently fulfills the following obligations:
Chairman of the ARTS Events Team (AET)
Show Producer, Director and Creative Lead
Technical Department Head
Business Development, Planning & Strategy
Production & Marketing Head
Branding, Design & Print
Website Maintenance & Development
and if that's not enough he also wrote the ARTS Anthem our school song!

We are incredibly lucky to have someone with such depth and a broad range of abilities directing the business.
Email: Andrew

ARTS Events Team (AET)
The AET has been set-up to expand the range of events available for all. Offering these opportunities and experiences to ARTS participants takes considerable effort and planning, so the AET was formed to lead these endeavours.

If you would like to become an active member of the AET please contact an administrator.