American Indian opera is a subgenre of music of the United States. It began with composer Gertrude Bonnin (1876-1938), also known as Zitkala-Sa ("Red Bird" in Lakota). Bonnin drew from her Yankton Dakota heritage for both the libretto and songs for the opera The Sun Dance. This full-scale opera was composed with William F. Hanson, an American composer and teacher at Brigham Young University in Utah.[1]