In honor of the country’s 250th anniversary, Witness Trees, a dance program featuring Nailah Randall-Bellinger RootsUprising Dance Company and live music from the Colour of Music Festival, takes place Sunday, May 31, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. at Middleton Place encouraging audiences to reflect on the Conversations of Freedom exhibit beyond the museum walls. The dance performance brings to life the diverse and often untold stories of freedom, struggle, and resilience connected to this landscape.
Sponsored by Middleton Place Foundation, the RootsUprising Dance Company’s site-specific dance performance explores the personal connection that enslaved Africans and African Americans had to the environment surrounding Middleton Place through their cultivation of the land and ritual practices of spirituality. The performance will eventually become a film to archive the important acknowledgement of these enslaved inhabitants and the power of telling such stories through the lens of dance.
“Middleton Place is committed to exploring the many meanings of freedom that have unfolded on this landscape,” said Dana Hand Evans, President and CEO of Middleton Place Foundation. “Witness Trees invites audiences to experience these stories in a powerful way through movement and the landscape itself, encouraging reflection on the promises and contradictions of liberty that are central to our history.”
‘Merging artistic disciplines is central to the Colour of Music Festival’s mission of showcasing contributions of African ancestry to the classical arts and other art forms. We are honored to collaborate with the Middleton Place Foundation and the RootsUprising Dance Ensemble to present this expression of artistry on the sacred grounds of Middleton Place,” says Lee Pringle Founder, Artistic Director and Aurther Middleton descent.
The program opens with remarks from Nailah Randall-Bellinger, Artistic Director and Choreographer of RootsUprising. Lee Pringle, founder and director of the Colour of Music Festival, and historian Dr. Robert Bellinger, both descendants connected to Middleton Place, will offer personal and historical context.
The audience will experience the Colour of Music Festival’s instrumental and vocal musical interludes to deepen the emotional and historical resonance. A post-performance conversation and Q&A with the artists and speakers will invite guests to engage more deeply with the work’s themes.
The event opens at 5:00 p.m. for light refreshments and garden exploration before the performance. The grounds will remain open until 8:30 p.m., offering time for reflection and connection.
The performance is presented as part of Middleton Place Foundation’s Conversations of Freedom programming commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
Ticket information and additional event details: www.middletonplace.org.