Alex Daniel

Executive Director and Founder

Alex has worked in the entertainment business since he was a young boy. Working as a child magician, he performed his first paid show at just age 8. Becoming the one of the youngest Pro Wrestlers in Britain by age 14, Alex became the countries youngest Heavyweight Champion at the age of just 19 and then went on to break the World record for the most British Heavyweight singles Titles held by one man by the time he was 25, when he retired from full time competition. During this period he also appeared as a National Radio show host and producer for TalkSport, appeared on everything from the world famous Jerry Springer Show to ITV's "This Morning" and Channle Four's Big Breakfast as well running London's first wrestling school in over 30 years.

However, it was in the areas of marketing and promotion that Alex would really find his niche. Running his first live event in 2001, he would go on to become the head Promoter for the FWA (the UK's most famous wrestling company) and then later be head hunted by America's top wrestling companies, to run their first ever UK tours and British publicity campaigns. In the process Alex set attendance and ticket price records for independent wrestling shows in the UK as well as massively increasing his list of clients, contacts and supporters in the fields of lives events. This has lead to him overseeing huge shows in places such as the Birmingham NEC, London Excel Centre, Crystal Palace Indoor Arena and the Coventry Skydome, some of the largest venues in the country.

As the founder of the BWC and AlexShane.Org as well as bein the Head of Marketing and Promotion of the newly revived FWA, Alex turned his hand to video contented production making over 250 wrestling videos for Youtube in the last two years as well as being the Executive Producer of the world's biggest internet wrestling chat show "Wrestle Talk TV" and as a result has been bought on by several non wrestling companies such as The Daily Star Newspaper and Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital to make promotional video content for them.

Coming from very humble council estate beginnings, Alex has not lost touch with his social or wrestling roots and dedicates a massive amount of his time to helping young people or those with the same ambition but lack of funds and contacts that he once had, to achieve their visions. As a result he has worked on several history making projects which have helped thousands of youngsters on the road to reaching their goals and dreams such as founding the not for profit BWC, which introduced the world's first ever National wrestling training syllabus to schools all over the UK which has bought him press attention from media institutions like the BBC. He has also freely mentored literally hundreds of people on a one on one basis in the fields of performance, live events, marketing, promotion and multimedia and has written over 40 publishes articles on the subject for FSM Magazine as well as his "Guide to Pro Wrestling" training book.

Jamie Lewis Hadley

Artistic Director

Jamie Lewis Hadley is an artistic director for Alex Shane.org, professional performance artist and researcher. He has performed and taught across the UK, USA and Croatia and has received major commissions and funding from The Old Vic, IdeasTap and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. His current practice utilises his career as a professional wrestler and uses it as a departure point to create live art performances, actions and installations that explore, both aesthetically and thematically: deterioration, endurance, pain and violence. These performances are concerned with investigating how spectacles and the control of pain, violence and blood interact with the performance of masculinities and positions of authority.

Jamie was trained by Justin Richards and Mark Sloan at the FWA Academy, where he met Alex Shane at a seminar. After almost a decade apart, their paths crossed again when Jamie asked Alex to act as consultant and collaborator for BritWres-Fest; One of Londons most high profile wrestling events funded by the Old Vic and IdeasTap. Since then they have continued to work together, establishing a concrete and unique relationship ready to take the entertainments industry by storm.

He is also co-founder of ]performancespace[, an artist led, not for profit studio space for performance artists in Hackney, and is currently completing a Masters of Research at the University of Plymouth.

Joel Ross

Lead Media Course Instructor

He has been a TV and radio host for the biggest names in the industry for over 18 years. As part of “JK and Joel” he had massive high profile shows on both Radio One and Virgin, winning seven highly coveted Sony Radio Awards for “Best Breakfast Show” and “Best Entertainment Show”. As a TV presenter he has worked for the BBC and ITV as well as being the host of huge live shows such as “Party in the Park”.

Anaïs Lalange

Assistant Artistic Director

Born in France, Anaïs Lalange came to London for a university exchange at Queen Mary University. She graduated from Drama in June 2010 but also took up film studies and two years of philosophy back in France. Anaïs is currently working in performance art and live art. She performs her own creations (based on visual and physical work) and also works for and assists others artists including Helena Hunter, Mehmet Sander, Ron Athey to name but a few.She is also part of a collective of emerging performance practitioners called AiR Supply. AiR Supply organise nights of performances in galleries and clubs as well as taking part in skill sharing training and working on large festivals. They were recently invited by the Tower Hamlets council to work on the music festival Lovebox in Victoria Park this summer.

Since Anaïs finished her studies she has been working on several artistic events or structures such as the Thames festival, Chelsea theatre, the Barbican, the Coming Up festival, the Outside AiR festival. Anaïs is also a musician and plays viola. She is part of a quartet called the Parlour Room, the Mind Ears Orchestra, and also plays occasionally for the band Bleeding Heart Narrative, with the musician Talvihorros. On top of this she used to do a lot of dance when she was younger and did few years of jujitsu (brown belt).

Thanks to Ideas Taps and the Coming Up festival she met Jamie Lewis Hadley. She then discovered the wrestling world while helping Jamie and Alex Shane during BritWrest-Fest. She was amazed by the quality of the matches and the atmosphere surrounding the ring and after the festival she joined the ASO as Assistant Artistic Director under Jamie Lewis Hadley.

Xander Cooper

Assistant to the Executive Director

Xander started training to be a Professional Wrestler in 2007 at the well respected Futureshock Training school in Manchester and has since risen through the ranks of British Wrestling. In February this year, was selected above over 400 other students Nationwide and won the prestigious BWC Scarlo Scholarship, the World's only Pro Wrestling training scholarship. This made him only the second to win such a prize in history. Part of his prize included private mentoring from Alex Shane founder and Executive Director, Alex Daniel.

Outside of Wrestling, Xander is in his second year of study at university, where he studies advertising and the ever more prevalent role it has in society. Although he's relatively new to the industry he has excelled in modules based on branding and media planning, an area he has gained much additional experience and knowledge in since he has begun working with Alex Shane .

Prior to University Xander opted to take a gap year where he worked as part of the management team of a well known high street retailer. In this role Xander honed his skills as a leader; in critical observation and organisation.

Xander's role as the Assistant to the Executive Director will be to liaise with Alex Daniel and other members of the organisation, delegate projects that come into AlexShane.Org and ensure the day to day running of the organisation runs smoothly by working to ensure that the management team's work load is as stream lined as possible.

Larysa Bodell

Head of Graphic Design

From a young age, Larysa has been involved in performance, on stage and behind the scenes. Her life of performance began through music - playing the Accordion. From the age of 7, she was competing in competitions nationally until reaching a level where she was able to compete internationally. Her Accordion career has so far taken her to many different corners of the world - performing concerts and master classes in Las Vegas, playing in Disneyland (Florida) and competing in nearly every country in Europe. Larysa was also offered the opportunity to perform live on Channel 5, due to her level of playing. Her musical talent was recognised in 2009 when she was placed 2nd in the World Accordion Championships in New Zealand. Due to her success in the competition, Larysa was offered the opportunity to become the official demonstrator by well known music company Roland, showcasing their instruments.

Larysa's passion for performance led her to discovering the British Wrestling Scene. After attending a local wrestling show, she found a passion for the performance and production of the sport, eventually leading her to co-founding SAS Wrestling in late 2005. As well as working as a manager on the live shows, in order to help promote the company, Larysa started to make graphics and music videos, teaching herself everything she now knows. Her creativity and abilities grew to a point where she was recognised by an editing company who asked her to become an editor for the Discovery Channel. However, her passion for wrestling was always there. In 2007, when the opportunity to create a national Wrestling television programme presented itself, Larysa threw herself completely into it. She became the Head Editor and Graphic Designer for the show, seeing her work broadcast on The Fight Network on Sky Digital. Over the years, Larysa has also worked on a number of freelance projects, from creating graphics for television shows to being commissioned by High Point Media Group to create television and film trailers.

Currently, she is still following her accordion roots by examining for the British College of Accordions and as an experienced Judge for national accordion competitions. She continues to perform with a local band, working on music videos and graphics to promote them and constantly strives to better her previous work.

Sam Ibrahim

Chief Editor

From the age of 13, Sam had always been fascinated with film and television production and studied Film and Media Studies at school. Now at the end of 22 and a recent graduate of BA Digital Media Production from the Arts University College at Bournemouth, Sam was the first person to take part in AlexShane.Org, College/Uni work placement scheme after sending in his final piece of course work. ‘Sports or Entertainment: A day in the life of wrestler’, a short documentary piece about his friend James Riley (aka Jay Knox), which got the attention of Alex Daniel.

Being a fan of wrestling since he was a child, it wasn’t until he grew up that he realized that that’s what he wanted to be a part of, everything to do with the production of a show even creating storylines for shows himself. In the last year Sam has produced DVD and online content for Europe's biggest wrestling company, the FWA, including creating the the highly acclaimed "FWA Spotlight Series" which had it's premier at the world famous Birmingham NEC. As a result, Sam has now been promoted to the Chief Editor for AlexShane.Org and it's Wrestle Talk TV.

Drew Iron

Head of Funding, Bids and Business Development

Drew is an award winning social entrepreneur with an accomplished history in retail sales and customer service. He has an imposing CV, including such blue chip companies as Npower, Barclays and American Express. Drew cut his teeth by training in many different fields, including cheffing, landlord, door to door slaes, complaints management, personal banker, acting, writing, singing, radio presenting, lecturing and most recently even started wrestling.

Drew has recently completed an MSc in Creative Industries Management, with his thesis being a business development strategy for the expansion and reintegration of the whole wrestling industry into the culrural ethos of the UK. Even now he works tirelessly to create opportunities that will allow greater exposure and financial compensations for the wrestling industry in the UK as a whole.

Drew has ties to the acting world also. Having trained in Performance arts at the university of Sunderland, Drew went on to teach at the respected Robins acting school in Durham's City Centre, as well as featuring in many plays for the Little Theatre, Durham Shakespeare Group, the Guilbenkian Theatre Newcastle and the Royalty Theatre Sunderland. Drew also recently starred in the independant film Burt.

His work does not stop there though. Not content with changing the fundamentals of an industry, Drew has won awards for his social concious from UnLtd, Virgin Media Pioneers and the British Arts Council, as well as being an active member of the Trade Union Equity, where he recently chaired a groundbreaking new agreement betwen wrestlers and the trade union. Drew's grass roots based ideology is ingrained in everything he does, and providing opportunities to those who would not normally be able to reach them is his main driving force.

Sam Gardiner

Lead Artist

Sam, known as 'Berry' to most, has studied Graphic Design since college but always had a keen flair for art. Over the last 12 years he has massively expanded his knowledge through self teaching and experimentation with various programs and techniques and the results are astounding. Sam has produced graphics work that have been used by everyone from TV programs to magazine adverts, music videos to live event program covers. However as a man of few words, the best way to judge his amazing talent is not through a bio but to click on the link below to see some of his truly fantastic work.

Away from his art, Sam also successfully juggles his graphics work with his own wrestling career, having worked for nearly 50 different promotions all over the UK and Ireland, he currently performs in over 100 matches a year.

Dave Bradshaw

Head of Press Relations

Dave Bradshaw is best known as the play-by-play commentator for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, and has also worked for several other UK promotions including IPW:UK, 1PW, Futureshock Wrestling, WAW and more. Since 2008 he has also been the English-language commentator for the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), the world's oldest professional wrestling company, with weekly events from Mexico City being broadcast in the UK via BT Vision.

Away from the commentary desk, Bradshaw is an award-winning journalist who has written for The Sun newspaper and is currently the lead writer of the British news pages in Fighting Spirit Magazine, the UK's biggest wrestling magazine. He is an experienced radio presenter and producer, credited with discovering BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James during his student days. In television he has worked on "The Apprentice" for BBC1, "The Wright Stuff" for Channel 5, and various other high-profile productions for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Discovery.

Bradshaw also takes a keen interest in politics, having been a speechwriter and policy officer for government ministers in the UK Parliament. He has also worked on general election campaigns in both the UK and the US. His work for AlexShane.org intersects both politics and media - he is involved in a number of special projects related to press and publicity, aimed at improving both the standards and exposure of the British wrestling industry.

Tony Knox

Head of Photography

Tony Knox is unique in his ability to enter a project, organisation, scenario, or community and immerse himself within it as an active participant or member. From this viewpoint he can analyse the strengths and weaknesses within it and develop strategies to improve or professionalism the situation. A classic example of this was working with GPW a wrestling company, where, entering as an artist and photographer, he also trained as a wrestler whilst simultaneously creating professional promotional material and raising the organisation's profile nationally. Tony has worked on a number of projects globally, including performance and art related pieces in India, Finland, Tokyo, Cologne and Egypt. He enjoys blurring the edges between the artworld and other areas, such as taking a wrestling ring into an art gallery or even performing himself at a festival he is also shooting. There has been a natural progression for Tony from artist to curator, and he has curated a large number of shows over the last ten years, nationally and internationally. Tony has been commissioned to curate for organisations such as the A Foundation, UCLan and The Liverpool Biennial (Independents).

Tony's personal work has explored themes of Icon and faded superhero, manifesting in the creation of ÔMothman', a six year, ongoing project exploring an almost self deprecating character of his own creation. Tony was exhibited internationally and synonymous for his character of 'MothMan', A pseudo wrestler evolved from research and development of popular culture.

His experienced in various multi media design ranges from digital short films to website photographic content and live event photography. On top of this what makes Tony such a tremendous asset to Alex Shane Org is his his time working in education as a Mentor and Lecturer and outreach programmes as a Workshop Leader.

Shaka Bunsie

Old Vic Head of Digital Media

A graduate of Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has worked professionally as an actor in America and Europe. Appearances include Rome (BBC and HBO), and EastEnders (BBC). Also a fully trained teacher with experience teaching hard to reach inner city students in the UK. Most recent project was as a consultant with Newham Council, to advise on the process of setting up and running a number of External Exclusion centres. Currently Responsible for the administration and creative development of projects linked to The Old VicÕs New Voices programme and in particular its micro site on the IdeasTap website. Future Old Vic New Voices project on IdeasTap - Coming Up Weekender 2011..

Tony Atkins

Village Productions Managing Director

Started life as a recording studio and music production company, Village was established in 1984 by Tony. Since that time the company has moved into post production for TV and produced it's own 52 part children's cartoon with the BBC and created content for over 1500 TV episodes. Tony began his career as a musician and member of a successful band in the 60's working with many top artists, including The Beatles, Jimmy Page, The Rolling Stones, etc. His band performed the title music for Gerry Anderson's "Captain Scarlet". Tony joined RCA as an A&R Executive in 1970 then spent 15 years producing records as an independent for most of the major labels, acquiring his own recording facilities along the way.

For the last 15 years his company has concentrated on sound design for children's animation producing original scripts, sound effects, original music, voice dubbing and final broadcast mixes.

Lou Greenwood

Village Productions VP of Project Development

Lou joined Village two years ago after completing his degree in Creative Music Technology at the University of Hull. Prior to his degree he studied music technology for two years whilst performing in various bands and also writing electronic music. During his degree, he focused on production & recording, interactive art installations, electronic music, sound art and specialised in ambisonic 'surround' sound, creating ambisonic pieces for a massive 20.4 speaker setup.

In his time at Village Lou has worked on sound FX, Foley, voice recording, mix and now helps Tony with the day to day running of the company.

Lou is now involved in most audio/video projects as well as web design at the studio. Lou was responsible for the concept, brief and all code for the new Village website.

Arthur Cauty

Arthur Cauty is an award nominated film director, with extensive skills and experience in many areas of film and video production, from research and production management to camera operating and editing. He has compiled an impressive list of credentials across independent film, broadcast, theatre, corporate film, music video, live events, and documentary.

Hard Knocks was Arthur's directorial debut, a documentary challenging common misconceptions about professional wrestling; a sport which has fascinated Arthur since his childhood. Following it's completion in 2009, the film played a number of festivals in the UK and abroad, picking up an award nomination for "Best Documentary" in the process. Since then the film has been released via DVD and download, featured on BBC1 news, and accepted into the World's first ever broadcast online film festival. Hard Knocks established Arthur as one of the UK's most promising young prospects in the world of documentary film making.

Arthur has gone on to work with the likes of revered British comedian Paul O'Grady, BAFTA award winning film maker Tal Rosner, award winning dancer and choreographer Javier De Frutos, and renowned producer Rosa Bosch. More recently, he worked as Assistant Director on the film element for The Most Incredible Thing, a contemporary ballet for Sadler's Wells Theatre, featuring a score composed by the world's most successful pop duo The Pet Shop Boys.

Referred to as "a young Stanley Kubrick", Arthur has adopted a dark and often surreal visual style to compliment his story telling, creating engaging, dynamic narratives spanning a multitude of genres. Aside from his work in film, Arthur continues to dedicate a huge amount of his time to professional wrestling, working to bring the sport back to the forefront of British popular culture.

Meldra Guza

Guitarist, songwriter, arranger and singer Meldra began her musical career at the age of 14 back in her home country Ð Latvia, where she was a teenage sensation and national teen idol. Winning many competitions and playing at least 450 shows including all the major festivals.

After several single releases she went on to playing with her dad Johnny Salamander in a hugely successful rock, pop project playing live to audiences of up to 16000 people. This project involved touring, radio interviews National and commercial Television appearances and album releases, special guest appearances on The Swedish Superstar Robert Wells' tour with the symphonic orchestra. She is still a regular guest and host on Latvian National Television when she visits and hosted the 2005 "Miss and Mrs Latvia" from Tunisia and then again in 2006 from Egypt.

After graduating from Riga French Lyceum she left Latvia for the UK to complete a degree in music performance guitar at The Academy of Contemporary music in Guildford.

Since graduating with a 2.1 Meldra began actively working as a session musician, playing for projects such as: "Fisher Price" toys voice over work, "Virgin", the all female session band "SounDelight"- playing at the O2, Chinese New Year in Shaftesbury Avenue, Worlds Music Festival, Live and Unsigned, Southbank Art festival and many more.

As well as playing with other playing with other artists Meldra has been focussed on her solo career- appearing on 14 major magazine covers including FHM. Meldra has spent most of 2010 in the studio writing and recording new songs for her up and coming album due to be released in 2011.