On February 27 and 28, 2026, Berlin-based British dancer Adam Russell-Jones will present his performance Release the Hounds in the Festsaal. Inspired by dance marathons of the 1920s and 30s and rave culture, the piece leads the audience onto the performer’s “dance floor of the psyche”: a poetic, physical poem about endurance, escape, and survival through dance. With song, movement, and reminiscences of ballrooms and nightclubs, Russell-Jones illuminates the sensuality and urgency of the last dancer on the floor—between pleasure and necessity, history and the present.
Abb. oben: Bild: © Mayra Wallraff
Release the Hounds presents a dance through the crisis. On stage, the performer weaves his way through a series of song and dance numbers in the form of an open, physical poem. Set on the dance floor of the performer’s psyche—reminiscent of a ballroom or the basement of a nightclub—the spectacle shows a man who cannot stop dancing.
Inspiriert von den Tanzmarathons der 1920er/1930er Jahre während der Großen Depression in den USA und der Rave-Kultur, sowohl der heutigen als auch der aus der Thatcher-Ära, ist Release the Hounds eine Ballade über den Tänzer aus der Arbeiterklasse. Während er auf der Tanzfläche schwankt und in der Zeit schwebt, stellt sich die Frage, ob er zum Vergnügen oder zum Geldverdienen da ist. Das Werk untersucht die sinnliche und poetische Erfahrung, die letzte Person auf der Tanzfläche zu sein; eine abstrakte Darstellung des Tanzes als Flucht aus der Realität, aber auch als Mittel, um sie zu überleben.
Inspired by the novel RAVE by Rainald Goetz and the 1996 film They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, Release the Hounds follows a narrative in which one doesn’t always make ends meet, but in which the work remains clear: the dancer must keep dancing.
Release The Hounds premiered in January 2025 at the Sophiensæle as part of the Tanztage Berlin.
Adam Russell-Jones is a British-born, Berlin-based dancer. He began his professional ballet training at the Elmhurst School for Dance in Birmingham and subsequently transferred to the Royal Ballet School in London. After graduating, Adam joined the Stuttgart Ballet. During his time there, he was nominated by the German Stage Association for the Faust Prize in the category of “Best Performance” for his role in Marco Goecke’s Spectre de la Rose.
In 2017, Russell-Jones joined Nederlands Dans Theater and later the Staatsballett Hannover. Since 2022, he has worked as a freelance artist in Berlin. In 2025, as part of the Tanztage Berlin festival at the Sophiensæle, Russell-Jones created his first full-length performance, Release the Hounds, which received widespread critical acclaim. Release the Hounds was also presented at ImPulsTanz – International Dance Festival in Vienna and at the Southbank Centre in London.
WHEN?
Exhibition: Friday, 27. February – Saturday, 28 February 2026
WHERE?
Sophiensæle
Sophienstraße 18
10178 Berlin
