Release the Hounds is a depiction of dancing through crisis. On stage, the performer weaves through a series of song and dance numbers in the form of an open ended physical poem. Set on the dancefloor of the performer’s psyche, reminiscent of a ballroom or the basement of a nightclub, the spectacle is one of a man who can’t stop dancing. Inspired by 1920s/1930s dance marathons during the Great Depression in the United States and rave culture of both contemporary and Thatcherite eras, Release the Hounds is a ballad of the working class dancer. Swaying on the dancefloor, suspended in time, the question is raised whether he is there for payoff or pleasure. The work examines the sensual and poetic experience of being the last person on the dancefloor; an abstract depiction of dance as an escape from reality, but also as a means to survive it.

Drawing inspiration from the novel RAVE by Rainald Goetz and the 1969 film They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, the performance Release the Hounds follows a narrative where ends don’t always meet, but the oeuvre remains clear: the dancer must keep dancing.