Lizzie and Ryuichi will dance continuously on a lake for 24 hours

Dance marathons were a craze across the US during the Depression, when couples stayed on their feet for days in exchange for free food and the promise of cash prizes.

Hugely popular, this exploitative form of entertainment thankfully involved a 15-minute break every hour, and contestants would train themselves to fall instantly asleep during those periods.

The free 24-hour dance piece, Today I Feel A Soft Breeze, will begin at 5pm this Saturday on the lake behind HOTA.Credit: Bleach

When Lizzie Thompson and Ryuichi Fujimura perform a 24-hour dance piece on a temporary stage erected on Evandale Lake in Surfers Paradise, it will be for a more edifying purpose – art.

They will be on a similar schedule, pausing for 15 minutes every hour, but they’ll also get three longer meal breaks.

“It’s a big toll on your body to keep dancing for 24 hours,” said Bleach festival’s artistic director, Rosie Dennis. “It’s not for the faint-hearted performer.”

Dennis has been keen to stage the performance, Today I Feel a Soft Breeze, for a long time.

“I’ve wanted to do a durational dance work almost since I arrived on the Gold Coast,” she said. “And not just durational, but overnight.”

Choreographer Emma Saunders said the work was about “joy, love and survival”.

“The artists themselves are going to undergo an experience. It’s not manufactured, their tiredness. This is going to be for real,” she said.

“It’s a bit like the Tour de France – maybe it’s the Tour de Dance.”

The free performance will begin at 5pm this Saturday, August 3, on the lake behind HOTA (Home of the Arts), with music by Gold Coast composer Cold Ghost.

Bleach artistic director Rosie Dennis has wanted to stage a 24-hour dance piece for five years.Credit: Experience Gold Coast

The dance will continue all night and into Sunday morning, when visitors to the adjacent HOTA Farmers Markets will have something unusual to see alongside their fresh produce and bacon and egg rolls.

On-water performances are a feature of this year’s Bleach festival, which will be Dennis’ last as artistic director.

“The Gold Coast is a sea city. It’s 70 kilometres long, and you’re never more than five minutes from a body of water,” she said.

A floating stage on the Nerang River in the Broadbeach Cultural Precinct will host a free performance on Friday night titled Wayfinders: A Pacific Journey, featuring 70 voices from the Pacific region.

The same stage will host a lively brass band, Brass on the River, on Saturday night.

A dam on private property in Tallebudgera is the site of Slow Art – Sounds of the Valley, a showcase of fine food and new music by artists Erik Griswold, Christine Johnston, Bree van Reyk and Karl S. Williams, on August 10 and 11.

Griswold’s performance on an old piano will end in an unusual fashion.

“The piano is set on fire and he plays while it burns, so that will be pretty spectacular,” Dennis said.

The festival’s 13th year will involve more than 400 Australian and international creatives. Alongside music and theatre, there will be a special focus on dance.

Award-winning choreographer Lucy Guerin AO will showcase works including Duets, which is five two-person performances presented over four hours, alongside a 21-screen installation of archival works from her 21-year career.

The festival begins in North Burleigh at dawn on Thursday, August 1, with First Light, a free welcome concert featuring didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton.

Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said Bleach “recognises the important role of the arts in strengthening our communities and cultural reputation as we prepare to host the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games”.

Bleach 2024 takes place on the Gold Coast from August 1-11.