SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance Shih-Ming Li Chang will present a lecture, dance demonstration and video at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29 in Chakeres Memorial Theatre. The event, which is free and open to the public, features research and information obtained by Chang during her recent sabbatical research trips to China to study Chinese Folk Dance.

The first half of the Chinese dance presentation will have four to five dances performed by Chang and guest performer Teena Custer, a graduate student at The Ohio State University who has previously been a guest choreographer for Wittenberg’s dance company. In the presentation, Chang will do Tai-Chi 24 Styles Form, a WuDong Tai-Chi sword dance and a water sleeves dance. Custer will perform a white fan dance that Chang choreographed this summer. The total length of the first half is about 20 minutes.

The second half is a video presentation. In the past three years, Chang has taken two separate semester sabbatical leaves. During the sabbaticals, she visited China six times to videotape interviews with dance scholars and performing artists. The video presentation is “my journey to China and Chinese dance,” Chang said. It will be about 45 minutes to one hour long.