"Know How at Pow Wow"

A slight, solemn-faced dancer stamped and whirled at a recent big city powwaw, watched by curious Indians.

The figure in woodland garb was evidently expert in Indian dances but he wasn't an Indian and many in his audience wondered who he was.

They were watching John Willis, 24-year-old native of Sunderland, England, who has accumulated an awesome familiarity with Indian lore and crafts.

An exponent of 20-odd ceremonial dances and a worker in feathers, buckskin and beads, he now is in the delicate position of being able to re-educate their originators.

Willis came to Canada when he was 12. "Like all kids of that age, I hoped to meet an Indian as soon as I got off the train."

Years later at Toronto's Central Technical School he met Mrs. Gisela Commanda, a writer and Indian authority. Through her her was introduced to his heroes of legend on the Six Nations Reserve. Among them was the Indian who now is his dancing idol, Huron Miller, (Chief Hiawatha).

But to be an alien Indian expert Willis must be a diplomat. When he helps an Indian dance group revive the ritual of their forefathers, it is virtually a case of being heard but not seen.

He has taught Indians the steps of their own dances, but through an Indian intermediary.

Mr. Willis has assembled about 10 complete, representative costumes. Each was about three months in the making, including bonnet, jacket, leggings, moccasins and decorative work. The cost averaged about $250.

Soon he and his Canadian wife Olga, a dancing teacher, leave for England where Willis will study at the London School of Arts and Crafts.

Crates of Indian handiwork will go with them to provide untravelled Britons with a new slant on the people they have seen only in movies.

Willis talks bitterly about what he calls the plight of Canada's Indians. He supports his arguments with little-known facts about Indian life.

"You know an Indian-inspired custom. It was introduced by pioneer bounty hunters to verify their claims of Indians slain."

Or: "North American Indians earned the epithet 'Red' not because of the bronze color of their skin, as is still popularly thought, but because vermilion was their favorite choice in warpaint."

He says modern free world political constitutions include points that were an intrinsic part of Indian life for generations.

Even on his own urban English streets, Willis' pre-occupation with Indians may soon be quaintly obvious. Included in his chattels to be shipped home will be another essential part of Indian life, a papoose bag - to be used "if necessary."