Wole Soyinka was opposed to Negritude, the literary/theoretical movement that developed across postcolonial Africa and in the African diaspora. While Negritude sought to elevate Black literature and art, Soyinka saw it as reductive, placing the Black literary movement in a defensive position. In addition, he objected to the over-glorification of pre-colonial Africa that was an impulse in many postcolonial texts. A Dance of the Forests was partially written in response to this impulse. Rather than present the past as a utopic model for the future, Soyinka emphasizes the mistakes and violence in Nigeria’s past by illustrating instances of violence, cruelty, and corruption. Because the play was written and performed for the celebration of Nigeria’s independence from the UK in 1960, it serves as a warning to the Nigerian people about how they will shape their future. Soyinka suggests that rather than emulating the past, his country should learn from it in order to create a brighter future.

The deity Aroni heeds the villagers’ request to bring back dead ancestors for the Gathering of the Tribes. However, while the villagers expected exemplars from the empires of Africa’s past, Aroni summons the Dead Man and Dead Woman as an indictment of the villagers for the behavior of their ancestors.