ShanDien Sonwai LaRance

ShanDien Sonwai LaRance is a world-renowned Native American hoop dancer, performing artist, instructor, actor, model, and public speaker. With over 25 years of dance experience, she is proudly Hopi, Tewa, Navajo, and Assiniboine, born and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona, to artists Marian Denipah-LaRance and Steve Wikivia LaRance. Surrounded by Native jewelry, sculpture, painting, ceremony, and community, she was immersed in Indigenous art and culture from birth.

ShanDien began her hoop dance journey at eight years old under the guidance of her older brother, the late Nakotah LaRance, a nine-time World Champion and one of the most influential hoop dancers in history. Performing alongside Nakotah and her younger brother Cree LaRance, she spent her childhood sharing their family’s artistic legacy at festivals, conferences, and cultural gatherings throughout the Southwest.

After graduating high school, ShanDien followed in Nakotah’s footsteps and ran away to the circus, joining Cirque du Soleil’s Big Top show TOTEM as a lead character and cultural performer. Over the next nine years, she completed more than 5,000 performances in over 25 countries, mastering the art of hoop dance and becoming an international cultural ambassador for the Native American and First Peoples communities and nations.

Her career has included performances at some of the world’s most prestigious venues and celebrations. She was a featured hoop dancer at the White House Inaugural Native American Heritage Celebration, hosted by Dr. Jill Biden, and she served as a cultural performer at the World Expo 2024 in Osaka, Japan, representing the United States at the U.S. Pavilion. ShanDien has been recognized as a Dance/USA Fellow, performed with the Brooklyn Ballet’s Nutcracker, contributed her voice as the Eagle Dancer for Netflix’s Spirit Rangers, and headlined the SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market Haute Couture Fashion Show. Her artistry has been showcased at the Miccosukee Arts & Crafts Festival, featured in Lonely Planet’s Best of Travel: New Mexico Local’s Guide, highlighted in the statewide New Mexico True tourism campaign, and brought to the stage as a lead performer in Cirque du Yaateeh. She also serves as the creative director of the Mystic Echoes Indigenous Dinner Show in Santa Fe.

The passing of her brother Nakotah in 2020 profoundly reshaped her purpose. ShanDien returned home with a deeper commitment to honoring his legacy and upholding their family’s teachings while uplifting Indigenous communities. She stepped into the role of master instructor, teaching more than 100 Indigenous youth and witnessing many of them grow into champion dancers and cultural performers. Through her mentorship, she watched young Indigenous individuals transform into confident, grounded, and culturally proud members of their communities.

Today, ShanDien’s work is rooted in a powerful mission: to reconnect Native American and First Peoples—especially adults—to movement, wellness, cultural identity, and healing through the practice and philosophy of the hoop dance. Her teachings emphasize movement as medicine, fitness grounded in culture, healing through storytelling and motion, and identity shaped through the circle of life.

Guided by tradition and her family’s enduring legacy, ShanDien Sonwai LaRance continues to stand as one of the foremost Indigenous performers of her generation, committed to strengthening her community through culture, movement, and the transformative power of the hoop.

World-Renowned Native American Hoop Dancer & Cultural Ambassador

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Notable Performances, Awards & Recognitions

  • ShanDien performed for nine years in Cirque du Soleil’s global Big Top show TOTEM, following her older brother, world-champion hoop dancer Nakotah LaRance, who originally created the Indigenous role. Joining the production in 2011, she performed as a featured lead character, completing more than 5,000 shows across 25+ countries and dancing in 8 to 10 performances each week. Her years with Cirque du Soleil formed the foundation of her mastery as a Native American Hoop Dancer and established her as an international cultural representative.

  • In 2018, ShanDien was awarded First Place as the Intermountain Women’s Adult Hoop Dance Champion in Salt Lake City, Utah. She earned this title for her exceptional artistry, athleticism, and cultural storytelling in competitive hoop dance, standing out for both technical precision and the strength of her cultural representation.

  • ShanDien was the on-camera host for Lonely Planet’s Best of Travel: New Mexico feature when New Mexico was named a Top 3 Travel Destination for 2023. The segment received significant recognition and contributed to Lonely Planet winning a travel media award for its storytelling and cinematic quality. ShanDien’s role highlighted Indigenous culture, art, and landscape as defining elements of New Mexico’s global appeal.

  • ShanDien was selected as the featured performer for the White House’s first-ever Native American Heritage Month Celebration, sharing the hoop dance and cultural teachings with more than 400 tribal representatives and dignitaries from across the United States. This performance was deeply meaningful, as she shared the stage with her father and represented her family, community, and tribal identity with pride. Following her appearance, she was asked to leave the hoops she performed with to be preserved in the White House archives to commemorate this historic inaugural celebration.

  • ShanDien served as a featured cultural ambassador for the New Mexico True state tourism campaigns, representing Indigenous movement, culture, and the beauty of New Mexico. Her segments were broadcast widely, appearing across major platforms including airports, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO, where her presence uplifted Indigenous identity and visibility within mainstream tourism media.

  • In 2023, ShanDien earned the title of Native American Women’s Hoop Dance Champion at the Market Days competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, awarded alongside the men’s champion, Patrick Willie. Her performance stood out for its strength, musicality, storytelling, and grounding in traditional teachings.

  • Honoring her brother’s legacy, ShanDien stepped into the role he originated as the Featured Indigenous Performer in the Brooklyn Ballet’s acclaimed Brooklyn Nutcracker. After the production’s return to the stage post-COVID in 2023, she was personally invited by the Artistic Director Lynn Parkerson, to continue the Indigenous Hoop Dance segment, bringing cultural representation into a fusion of classical and contemporary forms. She will reprise the role again in the 2025 season.

  • ShanDien was selected as a Dance USA Artist Fellow, joining a national cohort of 30 artists recognized for artistic excellence, cultural leadership, and significant contributions to advancing Indigenous performing arts across the United States.

  • In 2025, ShanDien, alongside her father Steve LaRance and champion hoop dancer Patrick Willie, was invited to serve as a cultural performer representing the United States at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan. During this three-month residency at the USA Pavilion, she shared Native American Hoop Dance, cultural teachings, and Indigenous identity with global audiences, continuing her mission of international cultural representation.

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