Interview with Vicky Holt Takamine and Jamaica Osorio, conducted by Diana Taylor, during the 7th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, held in August of 2009 in Bogotá, Colombia under the title Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas. In this interview, Vicky Holt Takamine and Jamaica Osorio talk about their take on how their particular performance-related work makes a political intervention in the public sphere. Part of the interview incorporates an impromptu spoken word moment by Osorio. This interview complements the performance Hula as Resistance, showcased in this 10-day event, which brought together activism, scholarship, and art around the themes of legacies, memories, struggles, and frontiers of citizenship.

Vicky Holt Takamine is the founder and kumu hula (master teacher) of Pua Ali'i 'Ilima, a school of traditional Hawaiian dance. In addition, she teaches hula at UH Manoa and Leeward Community College. She graduated through the 'uniki rituals of hula from Maiki Aiu Lake. Vicky received her BA and MA in Dance Ethnology from the University of Hawai'i. Since 1997, she has coordinated demonstrations, rallies, and marches calling for social, economic, and environmental justice for native Hawaiians.

Jamaica Osorio is a recent graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapalama and is based in Honolulu, Hawaii when she is not attending Stanford University. In 2008 Jamaica was part of the 5 person team that won the international youth poetry competition Brave New Voices in Washington DC and is featured in HBO's documentary "Brave New Voices." She was named the 2009 Youth Speaks Hawaii Grand Slam Champion.