Adam Russell-Jones: Release the Hounds – TANZTAGE BERLIN 2025
Adam Russell-Jones:
Release the Hounds
Release the Hounds
English
10€/15€
Premiere
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.
Choreography, performance: Adam Russell-Jones
Sound design: Moritz Haas
Scenography: Hannah Rose Stewart
Artistic advisory: Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung
Dramaturgical support: Mateusz Szymanówka
A production by Adam Russell-Jones in co-production with Sophiensæle. The 34th Tanztage Berlin is a production of Sophiensæle. Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. With the kind support of Tanzfabrik Berlin e.V., Theaterhaus Berlin and Uferstudios GmbH. Media partners: Berlin Art Link, Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.
Adam Russell-Jones is a UK-born artist based in Berlin. He trained at Elmhurst School for Dance and the Royal Ballet School, where he graduated in 2014. Adam danced for the Stuttgart Ballet and subsequently for the Nederlands Dans Theater. Since 2022, Adam has been a freelance artist, performing globally and developing a solo performance practice.