The Hoop Dance World Championship has been called the Indigenous version of ice dancing, and while competition can be cutthroat on the arena, the contestants are more like a continent-wide extended family.

That family is now mourning the loss of one of their stars.

Nakotah LaRance, noted Native hoop dancer and actor, died Sunday, according to an announcement from his family.

LaRance, 30, was a five-time world champion of the hoop dance, a sport that’s unique to Indian Country. In addition to appearing in nearly a dozen films and television shows, LaRance broke new ground as a principal dancer for the Cirque du Soleil show “TOTEM.” He was also a mentor to Native youth, the family said.

“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we share the passing of our son and brother Nakotah LaRance,” the LaRance family announced from their home in Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New Mexico.

Nakotah’s parents, jewelers Steve LaRance and Marian Denipah, and sisters Shandien, a hoop dancer, and Nizhoni, also a jeweler, wrote, “Nakotah was one of the most unique individuals this world has known, a pioneer of many achievements, too many to list.”  

LaRance’s heritage came from the Hopi, Pueblo and Assiniboine cultures, and his Hopi name was Lomasohu or “Handsome Star.” He began his hoop dance career at age 5, when he first saw the hoop dance performed.

“Nakotah was traveling with me and with his aunt Lynnae Lawrence,” said Derrick Suwaima Davis, a seven-time Hoop Dance world champion, who’s Hopi and Choctaw. “We were dancing till it was late, but Nakotah went to bed early, and he would sneak into my camper and grab my hoops.” So Davis made the young boy his own set of hoops. 

Davis described LaRance as one of his inspirations, and said the young LaRance learned hoop dancing through watching him and other dancers.

“You just go out and do it,” he said. 

LaRance learned well from watching and doing, winning his first world championship at age 12 in 2002 in the youth category at the Heard Museum World Championship Hoop Dance Contest. He went on to garner four more world championship titles in 2006 in the teen category, and three times in the adult category, in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

Hoop Dance, a Native sports tradition

The Hoop Dance has its origins in the cultures of several tribes across North America. Two of the strongest historic links to the hoop dance come from the Taos Pueblo and the Anishinaabe peoples of the northern woodlands and Great Lakes region.

The modern hoop dance was initiated in the 20th century by Tony White Cloud of Jemez Pueblo, using five willow hoops 24 inches in diameter. This version of the ancestral hoop dance is what’s known as a “social” dance or a performance that’s allowed to be seen by the public. It’s also become a pan-Indian, or multi-tribal, tradition, with each dancer creating her or his own regalia that reflects their culture.

In 1991, Ralph Zotigh, a Kiowa from Oklahoma, and his son Dennis developed the Hoop Dance World Championship for the New Mexico State Fair. Contestants were judged using criteria adapted from the Olympics on precision, timing and rhythm, showmanship, creativeness and speed.

Competitors can use from five to 30 or more hoops, which are made mostly from polyurethane these days.

The competition moved to the Heard Museum in Phoenix the following year, where it’s been held ever since. In the decades since, the Heard Museum Hoop Dance World Championship has attracted a worldwide fan base both for competition and exhibition by the hundreds of Native people who dance professionally or for fun, exercise, or a way to express their cultures.

The hoop dance also has attracted international fans, and hoop dancers have performed at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, at the Pan Am Games and in music videos. Hoop dancers like LaRance and the Duncan family have been featured on national television. 

Cirque du Soleil, acting, mentorship

LaRance would likely have brought more championship trophies home, but in 2009, he signed on with Cirque du Soleil for a three-year run as a principal dancer in the traveling show “TOTEM.”

He wielded his polyurethane hoops in the show, which traced humankind’s journey. Later, LaRance was joined by his younger sister Shandien, also known as Sonwei.  

Throughout all this, LaRance developed his acting career. His credits include roles in the 2007 film “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” the 2005 television miniseries “Into the West,” for which he won a First Americans in the Arts award, and the TV series “Longmire” in addition to other feature films and short features.

Over the past several years, LaRance worked with Native youth in New Mexico through the Lightning Boy Foundation. The organization, which its website says builds confidence and integrity in tribal youth through culture and artistic expression, was founded in honor of hoop dancer Valentino Tzigiwhaeno “Lightning Boy” Rivera, a descendant of Pojoaque Pueblo and Spanish heritage.

The young hoop dancer who looked to LaRance as a mentor died in May 2016 at age 8 from injuries sustained in a car crash about a year earlier.

LaRance was dedicated to training the next generation of hoop dancers. One year, Ben said that there were so many youth entrants in the Hoop Dance Championship that organizers feared they would be in the arena till 9 p.m., because so many of LaRance’s students were inspired to follow in their teacher’s footsteps.

“His greatest love was being a mentor of Hoop Dance to the Native youth,” said LaRance’s family. “He guided each child to find the beat of their own life path and the pride of their native culture.”

Accolades pour in

The reaction from hoop dancers and fans across Indian Country was immediate, as accolades, prayers and photos of LaRance flooded social media feeds.

Wendy Weston, a Diné who is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, was a founding member of the Heard Museum World Championship Hoop Dance Contest in 1991, and later served as a consultant and competition judge. Her daughter, Shaliyah Ben, also Diné and a Navajo citizen, managed the Hoop Dance until 2019, when she became the Native arts coordinator at Idyllwild Arts in Idyllwild, California.

“We are deeply saddened at the loss of Nakotah LaRance,” the two said in a statement.

“Each year as organizers and now supporters of the event, we witness a reconvening of a tight knit family that is the Hoop Dance family,” the pair wrote. “Nakotah was our son that we all were wildly proud of for taking his art across the world, he was the cool big brother to look up to and emulate, he was the young nephew that kept you on your toes.”

The Heard issued a statement as well: “The Heard Museum honors the memory of Nakotah LaRance (Hopi /Tewa/Assiniboine). He was an astonishingly original Hoop Dance artist, as well as a dedicated and generous mentor and teacher to countless Native youths. His innovative technique, fearless creativity and flawless execution was a marvel to behold and electrified audiences far and wide. Nakotah will be deeply missed and we offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones during this tragic time.”

LaRance’s participation in the creation of “TOTEM” and his two years on tour with the cast “will never be forgotten,” a Cirque du Soleil spokesperson said in a statement. “We are all very sad to hear of his passing and his spirit will always be with us. We wish to send our sincere condolences to his family during this difficult time.”

Fellow hoop dancer Lowery Begay, Navajo, wrote, “I’m in total shock and disbelief. We have lost one of the greatest hoop dancers I’ve ever seen in my life. A legend.”  

Lisa Odjig, Odawa/Ojibwe, the only female world champion hoop dancer, added this to a photo of her and LaRance at the 2020 championship at the Heard: “Rest in Peace Nakotah. I didn’t know this would be the last time. We will miss you.”

Kevin Dakota Duncan, San Carlos Apache/Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara, who’s not only a hoop dancer but an up-and-coming designer, called LaRance a “true pioneer and legend in the Hoop Dance world.” 

Hopi kachina doll artist and musician Ryon Polequaptewa offered a musical and spoken tribute to his longtime friend.

“As we all have done in times of unspeakable tragedy, we will lean on one another as a Hoop Family to get through this and support the LaRance family,” said Weston and Ben. “We are certain to see Nakotah and his influence on dancers for generations to come, in that way he will remain with us all forever.”

The cause of death has not yet been confirmed. 

In the statement, the family said that LaRance would be “sent home in our traditional Pubelo/Hopi way,” and that a memorial will be held on a later date. Donations can be made in LaRance’s name at the Lightning Boy Foundation.

Debra Utacia Krol covers Indigenous issues in Arizona and the Southwest. Reach her at debra.krol@AZCentral.com or at 602-444-8490. Follow her on Twitter at @debkrol. 

Coverage of tribal issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation and the Water Funder Initiative. 

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