I’ve had the privilege of seeing the powwow world from almost every angle.
I’ve been a dancer. A competitor. A champion.
I’ve danced at traditional powwows and competition powwows. I’ve been a head dancer and worked as head staff. I’ve helped communities launch powwows, helped raise the money to put them on, managed powwows, and helped run our own powwow back home on my First Nation.
And I’ve lost at a lot of powwows too.
Through Powwow Times, I’ve also had the opportunity to look at this world through the eyes of tourism, media and business.
I love powwow.
And after spending so much of my life in this world, I started asking myself a question:
Where could powwow go next?
That question eventually became the Powwow Dance Championships.
This Isn’t About Replacing Powwows
Before anything else, I want to make something clear.
The Powwow Dance Championships were never created to replace traditional powwows. They aren’t supposed to replace competition powwows.
Those gatherings have their own purposes, histories, protocols and beauty.
I wanted to build something different alongside them.
I wanted to take one of the most exciting parts of the powwow world—the incredible dancers, the great drum groups, the one-on-one battles, the specials, the solos and those moments when an entire arena erupts—and create an event specifically designed to put a spotlight on them.
We have superstars. Most of the world just doesn’t know who they are yet.
The Heroes I Grew Up Watching
I’m a Men’s Fancy Dancer.
Growing up in this world, we had our heroes. Names like the late Spike Draper, the late Daryl Jack and the late Tony Brown. And living legends like Michael Roberts and Dwight White Buffalo.
I could keep going.
Inside the powwow world, these names mean something. These were some of our rock stars.
But if you’re reading this and you’ve never been part of the powwow world, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard those names before.
That’s exactly the point.
Think about the athletes kids know today: LeBron James. Connor McDavid.
They don’t just know how these athletes perform. They know their stories. They know where they’re from. They watch interviews with them. They follow them online. They wear their jerseys.
They have heroes.
Why couldn’t we build that kind of recognition around our powwow champions?
Imagine What That Could Mean to an Indigenous Kid
Imagine an Indigenous kid growing up disconnected from their culture.
Maybe they’re growing up in foster care. Maybe they’ve never been to a powwow. Maybe they don’t know what Men’s Fancy Dance is.
Then one day they turn on a screen and see somebody competing.
He looks like them. He’s Indigenous. He has braids like them.
The announcers say his name. They tell you where he’s from. You learn about his family and his community. You watch him prepare. You see him walk into an arena while hundreds or thousands of people cheer.
And that kid thinks:
I want to be like him.
That’s powerful.
Because that’s actually similar to how powwow entered my own life. There was a point when I didn’t know what any of this was either. Then I saw it, and something inside me said: I want to do that.
The Problem With Being a First-Time Powwow Visitor
I’ve watched thousands of people experience powwow for the first time.
They’ll come for Grand Entry. They’re amazed by the colours, the drums, the dancing and the number of people. Then they sit down—and sometimes they have absolutely no idea what’s happening.
Who are the dancers? Who should they watch? What’s happening next? Why did everyone suddenly start cheering? When is something important happening?
At a huge powwow, there might be 500 or 700 dancers. For those of us who grew up around powwow, we understand what’s happening. A first-time visitor doesn’t.
And sometimes they’ll leave before they ever experience some of the most exciting moments.
The Moments When the Arena Comes Alive
If you’ve spent enough time around powwow, you know the moments I’m talking about.
A tiebreaker. A one-on-one. A special. A dancer getting the arena to themselves. An incredible drum group pushing a dancer harder and harder.
Those moments can completely change the energy of a building. People stand up. They start cheering. The dancer feeds off the crowd. The drum gets stronger.
And suddenly everybody understands what they’re watching.
You can feel it.
I kept thinking: What if someone experiencing powwow for the first time didn’t have to accidentally stumble upon that moment?
What if we built an entire event around those moments?
That’s Where the Powwow Dance Championships Came From
The idea became simple.
Bring great dancers together. Put them head-to-head. Introduce them properly. Tell their stories. Let people know where they’re from. Give the audience somebody to cheer for. Put incredible drum groups behind them.
Create battles people can understand even if they’ve never watched powwow dancing before.
And most importantly: put the spotlight on the dancers.
Instead of disappearing into a field of hundreds of competitors, you know exactly who is dancing. You learn their name. You learn their community. You hear their story. Then you watch them perform.
That’s the Powwow Dance Championships.
What UFC Taught Me About Building Stars
Part of the inspiration came from watching what Dana White and the UFC built.
You don’t have to agree with Dana White’s worldview to recognize what he accomplished as a businessman and promoter.
I remember when UFC was viewed very differently than it is today. Then the industry evolved. The production improved. The athletes became personalities. People learned their stories.
Fighters had training camps, coaches, sponsors and endorsements. Eventually, fighters became international superstars, and some became millionaires.
That changes what an athlete can do. A successful athlete can support their family. They can start businesses. They can help their community. They can inspire the next generation.
I’ve been fortunate enough to win championships as a powwow dancer. But winning $1,000 at a powwow doesn’t suddenly give somebody the resources to build houses in their community, start a youth gym or launch a food program.
Our dancers have tremendous talent.
What we haven’t built yet is an industry around that talent at the scale I believe is possible.
Then I Saw Power Slap
This might sound funny, but another piece clicked for me when Dana White launched Power Slap.
I watched people build an entire spectator sport around two people standing across from each other and slapping each other in the face. They created competitors. They created personalities. They created champions. They sold tickets. They built an audience.
And I remember thinking: Wait a minute.
If somebody can build an industry around people slapping each other in the face, why can’t we build a bigger industry around some of the most incredible Indigenous dancers in the world?
We already have the talent. We already have the music. We already have the champions. We already have generations of history. We already have incredible stories.
Maybe what was missing wasn’t the talent.
Maybe we needed a new stage for it.
Building Indigenous Superstars—and Real Opportunities
That’s the bigger vision behind the Powwow Dance Championships.
Yes, I want an exciting event. Yes, I want packed arenas. Yes, I want incredible battles.
But I want something bigger than that.
I want people outside the powwow world to learn our dancers’ names. I want people in another country who have never attended a powwow to discover one of our champions online and become a fan.
I want young Indigenous people to have heroes who come from communities that look like theirs.
And I want dancers to have real economic opportunities.
When we help these dancers find sponsors and endorsements, suddenly a dancer might be able to bring in $5,000, $7,000, $10,000 or even $15,000 around an event.
Now we’re talking about money that can help feed a family, support their dancing, build a business, grow their name and eventually give back to their community.
And this is just the beginning.
As the audience grows, the value of these dancers grows with it. A sponsor isn’t just supporting someone for one night. They’re connecting their brand with an Indigenous athlete, a story, a community and a growing audience.
That’s an industry.
Let’s Find Our Champions
I want to see the best Men’s Fancy Dancers go one-on-one. Let them battle. Let’s create a champion.
Then let’s do it with Grass Dance. Chicken Dance. Jingle Dress. Women’s Fancy. Women’s Traditional. Men’s Traditional. All of it.
Let’s introduce these dancers. Let’s tell their stories. Let’s build matchups people can’t wait to see. Let’s find champions.
Then let’s give those champions a platform big enough for the world to know their names.
My Dream Is Bigger Than One Arena
I have a dream for where this could eventually go.
I want to see Powwow Dance Championships on major sports networks. I want to see it on TSN. I want to see it on ESPN.
I want someone on the other side of the world to be excited about an upcoming powwow dance matchup.
I want people buying tickets because their favourite dancer is competing. I want people coming to meet our champions, asking for autographs and taking pictures.
I want a little kid to be able to point at one of our champions and say:
“That’s my favourite dancer in the world.”
That’s where I want this to go.
Powwow Dance Championships #2 — Red Deer, Alberta
Now we’re getting ready to do it again.
Powwow Dance Championships #2 is coming to the Red Deer Resort & Casino in Red Deer, Alberta.
On Friday, October 23, come Shop Indigenous with our vendors, meet the dancers and be part of our media day. Come ask questions, take pictures and start getting to know the champions behind the matchups.
Then on Saturday night, the Powwow Dance Championships go live.
If you’ve never been to a powwow before, you’re welcome here too. You don’t need to know the dancers. You don’t need to understand competitive powwow dancing. We’ll introduce you to the champions, tell you where they’re from and give you somebody to cheer for.
Then the drums will start.
And you’ll understand.
We aren’t trying to change what powwow is. We’re building another stage for something that has already been incredible for generations.
Maybe somewhere out there, a kid who has never heard the words “powwow dancer” is going to see one of these champions for the first time, see somebody who looks like them, learn their name and think:
I want to do that someday.
That’s why I created the Powwow Dance Championships.
🎟️ Get tickets and learn more at PWTPowwow.com.
