A woman stands proudly, chin-up, facing the camera head-on. She wears a bursting, sunny crown, vibrant and a little daunting. It looks like the baldly admiring depictions of Jesus painted during the Renaissance era; “this is a person you should admire,” the portrait seems to say.

But the subject in the portrait is not Jesus, or Sebastian, or David, or any of the other Saints so often given face-time in famous historical paintings. She’s a woman who identifies as queer, as evidenced by the self-reflective scrawl that frames her image. “Strength. Vulnerability. Community. Chola politics. Crimson lips, hoops and jet back liner.... as femme armor,” she writes.

It’s part of a series by artist Gabriel García Román called “Queer Icons,” where he uses the reverent style of Renaissance painters, but applies it to underrepresented groups -- namely artists and activists who identify as queer.

Much of his work is concerned with the descriptors we attach to ourselves -- for Román, these include “queer,” “Mexican,” “American,” “immigrant,” “secular,” and “Catholic.” Even when these identity markers aren’t included verbally in his work, each of Román’s portraits reflects the constructed and internalized identities of its subjects, and treats these identities with the sort of reverence typically reserved for saints.

"The subjects in 'Queer Icons' are people of color, who maintain separate, individual identities within the queer community," García Román writes in a statement on his website. "These explorations of the edges of genders take place in the nuances of the contemporary urban world. A simple eye shape, an angle of a mouth, the tilt of the head -- indicate a queering of conventional forms and roles ... Much like traditional religious paintings conferred a sense of safety, calm and meditation into a home, the works in this series aspire to a similar sense of refuge, drawn from the inner grace of the subjects out onto a world that might not always be safe."

Check out images from Román's "Queer Icons" and "For My Father" series, on view at Gallery Aferro from March 30-May 21, below.

Also on HuffPost:

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Along with more recognizable genres such as soul, R&B and psychedelia, SassyBlack describes her sound as hologram funk. "It's something that is so present but totally fantasy at the same time," she explained in an interview with The Huffington Post. "It’s super space age, funk in the future."

SassyBlack, born Catherine "Cat" Harris­-White​, is one half of the queer AfroFuturist hip hop dream duo known as THEESatisfaction. Harris-White is the singer, whose jazzy sound mixes the warm comfort of a silky robe with the futuristic mystery of an alien whisper. Stasia "Stas" Irons raps and lays the beats. The two used to date but are now friends and artistic collaborators. 

With her newest project, "No More Lame Dates," Harris-White embarks on her first full-length solo album. It's been a long time coming, given the fact that she's been making music since she can remember. As a kid growing up in Hawaii, Harris­-White​ was homeschooled, with a fluid and open curriculum that included museum visits and family dance parties. "I was able to be super free and creative," she said. "I was probably walking around singing all the time." 

It wasn't until the age of ten, however, when her family relocated to Seattle, that Harris-White was compelled to actually put words to paper. "Seattle was such a culture shock for me," she explained. "I didn’t know it even existed for real. I thought it was just the funny place in 'Sleepless in Seattle.' The weather was different, the diversity factor was way different."

Harris-White also switched from home schooling to public schooling, a transition she wasn't particularly fond of. The idea of waking up early to spend all day, exhausted and nervous and frazzled, around teachers who themselves seemed constantly flustered, was baffling. "The whole structure of it didn’t make sense to me."

"I was very weird," Harris-White continued. She dabbled in various extracurricular activities without feeling particularly at home in any single one -- sports, choir, acting, activism. She began to get involved in trainings about institutional racism and speaking out against it. 

One of her greatest passions growing up, something her family had instilled in her since a young age, was science fiction. From "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" to the work of Octavia Butler, Harris-White found herself drawn to stories that revolved around embracing the other. 

"I felt alienated in so many ways growing up," she said. "To watch 'Stark Trek' and see a black woman on the show each week -- that was a place I could identify with. There was an understanding that there are so many beings and spirits and types of energies in the universe."

Another major fascination: Michael Jackson. "Ridiculously obsessed," in Harris-White's words. She recalls sitting glued to the screen as VH1 and MTV played all-day marathons of Jackson's videos, watching "Thriller" over and over again despite being scared out of her wits. Jackson gets a shoutout in SassyBlack's first single off the upcoming album, "New Boo," when she refers to a "pretty young thing." As Harris-White and Irons explained in an earlier interview with Bitch Magazine: "We're openly queer and we like women and we want women to know that we like them."

Harris-White started writing songs and poems when she was ten, but it wasn't until much later that she gathered the courage to show her music to other people. "I was so nervous about my singing voice," she said. "I went to school for music but I was terrified just thinking about people thinking about my voice." Eventually Irons saw Harris-White perform at an open mic and the two began to experiment together on GarageBand. They debuted their joint sound at Harris-White's senior recital in college. In the past eight years they've released 11 projects together.

On the cover of their most recent album, "EarthEE," the two sit naked on a golden geometric throne set agains a purple galaxy twinkling with stars. White netting partially covers their faces and bodies, reminiscent of tribal body paint or Bjork's crystalline masks. The project is a breakup album, but to an unwitting listener it sounds more like a trippy tour through the cosmos, looking down at the planet like it's a singular detail of an expansive tapestry. 

Numerology, horoscopes, spirituality -- all play a role in Harris-White's otherworldly worldview, and her music."I believe in the universe. I believe in God on Earth," Harris-White said. "We’re a part of the universe and we’re our own universes as humans and as beings in bodies. We have nervous systems that look like galaxies. We emulate each other and look like each other. We’re all energies in sync with one another, and also have energies within ourselves." 

SassyBlack sounds like she was birthed from the same futuristic womb as THEESatisfaction, but perhaps raised on a sister planet. "Collaborating with anyone, you have a different energy going in," Harris-White said. "We both have our own vibes, our own plans, our own process. That’s going to naturally come out in whatever we create together. For me, working by myself has allowed me access to more of my thoughts. The only person I have to compromise with is myself. There is way more space for me to exist. I’m in my own little spaceship."

Harris-White thinks of her alter-ego Sassy Black as both a character and an extension of herself, and ultimately something in between. "Me in a Blacksploitation movie," she described. She's rambunctious, feisty, sensitive, loving, jittery and bossy -- all of which plays out in the music, from the fluid lyrics to the coincidentally skittish drum kit. "SassyBlack is me going into my adult self; it’s an evolution of me. Maybe in years past I’ve only seen little bits of her." 

SassyBlack's past projects include "Personal Sunlight," a six-song album celebrating the artist's actualizing of her full potential, and "Blackest Winter," an awesome rebuttal to the many years spent dreaming of a white Christmas. "May your holiday and winter be black," the album website reads. 

The new album is called "No More Lame Dates," a plea the best of us can wholeheartedly understand and relate to. The idea was inspired by Harris-White's recent adventures in online dating, and the all too familiar feeling that, despite pushing 30, you're suddenly as awkward as a preteen. "It was like 'Oh god, I’m 13 again,'" Harris-White lamented. "I felt like I was in a Yahoo chatroom."

Obviously, dating has been a dominant theme in pop culture storytelling long before Tinder came into the picture. But even growing up on sitcoms like "Saved by the Bell" and "Martin" and comics like Archie, Harris-White felt like the popular depictions of dating didn't quite hit home. In her own life, dating didn't involve a string of meet-cutes, hilarious misunderstandings and blowup heartbreaks. It's more, in Harris-White's words, "awkward and all over the place."

In music, the conversations about dating are also pretty one-dimensional. "It's all 'Oh girl, you're gonna get it tonight,'" Harris-White joked. "It’s very extreme -- either I love you, I hate you, or we're going to have sex. What about the middle ground? I felt like releasing that. What if you have a weird conversation and you feel terrible afterwards but you keep dating them?"

With "No More Lame Dates," Harris-White explores the range of emotions you experience while dating. It's not based on any one person, but various memories remixed into digestible clusters. And, in true hologram funk fashion, the album includes some memories that exist in the realm of pure fantasy, like, for example going to Comic-Con. 

"Tonight we’re going to the Comic-Con / And we’re dressing like Klingons / Participate in my sci-fi fantasy / I bet you didn’t think you were chillin’ with a sexy Trekky" 

Other memorable songs include "Mysterious Calls," a modern day "Bugaboo," in which SassyBlack begs a creepy caller to take a hint before she flips out. And there's the lead single "New Boo," in which Harris-White schools a potential new beau on the fact that although she gives off the vibes of a "PYT" (pretty young thing), she's grown and sexy and, ostensibly, not looking to play games.

"Sensing the hesitation in your voice / I'm here for pleasure / remember it's your choice / Waiting on your consent / People say I'm intense / I guess it makes sense / I'm a fierce lioness / So why pretend?" 

You could call it unusual to have an R&B jam about a budding love affair between two women. But what's more radical is SassyBlack's ability to navigate the eternally fluid ambivalence of dating with confidence and swagger, dancing between the mixed messages and disappointing encounters. With "New Boo" SassyBlack harnesses the all too real struggle of trying to read a potential hookup's vibe, without ever once doubting herself or her magical lioness powers. It's a song about budding love that emphasizes the importance of consent, andcelebrates SassyBlack's independent badassery, regardless of what goes down with this sexy stranger. It sounds almost too good -- at once too cool and progressive and positive and raw.

But alas, it's not just a hologram. It's real.

Listen to "New Boo" here and click here for SassyBlack's upcoming album "No More Lame Dates," available May 17. You can pre-order the digital album by following the link.

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Jake Gyllenhaal is a master of measured interview responses. I experienced it on the phone with him last year and again at South by Southwest on Saturday, where "All the Real Girls" and "Pineapple Express" director David Gordon Green interviewed Gyllenhaal in a room so full that stragglers watched the hourlong event on TV screens outside. 

Promoting "Demolition," the Jean-Marc Vallée-directed drama about an investment banker processing his wife's sudden death, Gyllenhaal waxed poetic about the "craft" of acting and a lifetime of Hollywood experiences. Here are a few brief takeaways. 

1. When he was 5, Gyllenhaal observed rehearsals for the crime drama "Running on Empty," written by his mother, Naomi Foner. It was there that little Jake developed a "huge crush" on Martha Plimpton, who was 18 when the film opened in 1988.

2. Gyllenhaal seems like one of the few bankable A-listers who hasn't appeared in a superhero movie. It's not by design, though -- the actor loves the genre because it's often based on mythology. He was "really inspired" by "Thor."

3. He calls "Donnie Darko" one of the "proudest accomplishments" of his career, largely because his character's nebulous paranoia reflects the subjective, mind-bending reality that troubles us all. "If you ever actually want to know what's going on in people's minds, go see that movie," he said.

4. One of his favorite screen performances is 8-year-old Max Pomeranc's turn as chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin in "Searching for Bobby Fischer." Gyllenhaal's favorite scene partners are kids because their uncalculated choices teach him how to master the moment. He cited Oona Laurence, his co-star in last year's "Southpaw," and Judah Lewis, his co-star in next month's "Demolition," as two of the most uninhibited performers he's worked with.

5. Gyllenhaal disagrees with the reception of his "Nightcrawler" character, a small-time thief who finds work -- and an obsession -- selling crime footage to TV news stations. Gyllenhaal understands "unfathomable" behavior because that is, after all, a natural part of the human condition. “Everyone was like, 'He’s so unhinged," Gyllenhaal said of the character. "And I thought, ‘That’s the closest to me that you’ll get.’”

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Bleary eyes be damned -- a 12:30 a.m. start time didn't stop the Paramount Theater's 1,200 seats from nearly filling up for the "work-in-progress" premiere of "Keanu" at South by Southwest on Sunday. Nor did the daylight-saving-time leap that left the Austin crowd stumbling out of the venue at nearly 4 a.m. 

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele's first joint big screen venture follows in the footsteps of both "Furious 7" -- last year's 11th-hour surprise screening -- and "Trainwreck," which also played in progress at SXSW. This time, festivalgoers at least had a few days to plan for sleep deprivation, as "Keanu" was added to the lineup earlier in the week. But no matter: As someone who usually eschews the midnight offerings at film festivals, I am delighted to nod off while telling you that "Keanu" was worth the death knell that became this morning's alarm. 

The Twitter reactions from fellow movie journalists were a bit more mixed than I expected, given how heartily the audience took to "Keanu." But with such a convivial spirit in the theater, and considering the Warner Bros. joint opens theatrically in just over a month, it's likely the version of "Keanu" that screened is fairly close to the one that will greet the world, despite tongue-in-cheek rumblings from its two stars.

"This is the work-in-progress screening of 'Keanu,'" Peele said while he and Key introduced the film. "So if you like it, good -- that's the movie."

"If you don't like it, it's a different movie," Key said. "If you don't like it, this is just  'John Wick 2.'" (In the first "John Wick," Keanu Reeves plays a former hitman avenging the murder of his puppy.)

The duo then proceeded to toss stuffed kittens into the audience, prompting wild cheers as they joked that they'd been warned to "watch out for the sconces" in the theater.

The plush felines looked similar to the titular cat at the center of "Keanu." Depressed after his girlfriend dumps him, stoner Rell (Peele) finds himself uplifted by a kitten that curiously arrives on his doorstep. But after he and his reserved best pal (Key) go to see the latest Liam Neeson action flick one night, they discover that Rell's house has been broken into. The kitten is nowhere to be found. Desperate to retrieve him, the pair track the animal to a Los Angeles drug ring whose overlord (Method Man) has adopted the pet as his purring ruffian mascot. Attempting to win the gang's favor, Key and Peele -- we might as well use their actual names; they're not exactly playing characters -- adopt a performative version of street-savvy gangster behavior. They lower their registers, sag their pants and fabricate anecdotes about violent drug tussles, ultimately getting caught up in an extensive drug scheme in order to fetch the cat.

That gag forms the comedic backbone of "Keanu," and for the most part, it works because the script, co-written by Peele and Alex Rubens, boasts a jam-packed joke density that distracts from its somewhat illogical plotting. The movie becomes as much a subversive take on race and how we adjust our identity to fit situations as it does an uproarious farce about the misadventures of two well-meaning companions. 

Barring outstanding edits and critics who feel "Keanu" is more like a "'Key & Peele' greatest hits album," the movie seems poised to play like gangbusters when it hits theaters on April 29. As a casual fan who was not a religious viewer of their TV show, I found the jokes fresh, particularly when a popular comedic actress pops up for a twisted cameo. (Her presence leads to the story's wittiest joke. Too bad the script reverses course on it at the end.) Even if the movie gains more detractors, it is impossible not to find a lot of "aw, shucks" charm in the fur ball at its center. The audience members who left with little Keanus of their own surely did.

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"Disco is music for dancing," Italian music producer Giorgio Moroder once said, "and people will always want to dance." Have truer words ever been spoken? Perhaps so, but we can pray for a future in which bell bottoms, mirrored globes and falsetto-laden jams reign over nightlife once again. 

To the haters out there who say disco is dead, and to the artsy crowd who debates for hours over whether or not painting has suffered a similar fate, stop talking and start ogling the glitter-happy surfaces of "FREAK OUT!" -- a Chicago based exhibition curated by Didi Menendez and Sergio Gomez. 

The show, taking place in a 13,000-square-foot gallery, features artists working in painting, sculpture, photography, video, poetry and performance, all addressing the era long associated with freedom, decadence, glamour, eccentricity and sparkles. In the words of Barry White: "Disco deserved a better name, a beautiful name because it was a beautiful art form. It made the consumer beautiful. The consumer was the star."

In Sharon Pomales' "High on Life," a mama in booty shorts gets loud on the dance floor of her mind, performing some serious dance domination despite the fact that she seems to be, rather blissfully, alone. Daniel Maidman's "At The Center Of It All" features a red-headed Bowie doppelgänger donning a skin tight jumpsuit that's an optical illusion in itself, teeming with eyes and fur that shift with kaleidoscopic smoothness. 

If you're in the Chicago area, or so hungry to relive your glory days it's worth the trek, head to the Zhou B Art Center from April 15 to May 14, 2016 to make all your disco dreams come true. And if you don't have disco dreams, you have a lot of thinking to do. 

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The undulating curves draw the eye into their sinuous patterns. The almost alien-looking ripples resemble a strange deep-sea organism or a wind-carved desert on a foreign planet. 

The truth is both more mundane and more mind-blowing: These mesmerizing structures are sculptures made of paper, created by Italian artist Daniele Papuli. 

Papuli has been making paper sculptures since 1995, but, he told The Huffington Post, he'd been working toward the same effect in more classical materials for some time. "I tried many different materials such as stone, wood, plaster, unconsciously following a route, a continual passage from gravity to the lightness of the form, from the solidity of the matter to its ductility," he said. "The volumes grew thinner and thinner [...] at last I reached paper, paper handling."

While sculpture more traditionally involves taking material away to reveal an artwork within stone or clay, working with paper, for Papuli, means transforming the two-dimensional into a three-dimensional structure. "I resolved ‘to build’ a shape choosing the sheet of paper as unit of measure," he told HuffPost. "I was fascinated by light and thick textures, by the structural potentialities of surfaces, by this matter -- alive, vibrating, changeable. A matter characterized by a physical, tactile pleasure apparently hidden in its more usual shape, flat and bidimensional."

By cutting, arranging, and iterating patterns with the paper, he transformed the flat, plain pages into unrecognizable landscapes and textured falls.

The inspiration behind Papuli's installations, ethereal as they seem, lies close to home. "I come from the south of Italy, Salento, a little region of Puglia, where color, light, landscape, wind, emotions are very strong and I can say have taken root in me," he said. Papuli told HuffPost that the saturated sunlight and vivid landscapes of his home provide artistic fuel, inspiring him with the way the sunlight and shadows fall starkly in the fields. 

Papuli sees paper as a limitless medium. "According to the way in which it is moved, touched, cut, paper offers me numberless sensorial, visual and tactile suggestions engendered by its new structure," he said. Viewing his installations, it would be difficult to disagree.

Check out more of Papuli's work below, or on his website:

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Warning: This post contains nudity and may not be appropriate for work.

Let's talk about sex. Specifically, the spectacle and culture of sexuality in Paris between 1920 and 1946. What did Parisians in the roaring twenties and beyond find arousing, grotesque, criminal and divine? Where did the counterculture convene to drink, dance, get naked and get it on? What language was used to describe the particulars of their carnal knowledge? 

If these questions are on the brain, we'd suggest checking out Mel Gordon's Horizontal Collaboration, a look back at the erotic world of Paris in this tumultuous time. Gordon's book combines stunning photographs, illustrations, posters and archival images with text describing all the dirty details of life in Paris. 

"I spent a few years meeting with old French enthusiasts and participants, gathering boxes of cult artifacts, searching for brothel guidebooks, and excavating private archives," Gordon explained to The Huffington Post. "For the French, sex was another hedonist pursuit -- fluid, sometimes mocking, an inescapable and enduring pleasure."

Below we've compiled some of the more lascivious details of early Parisian sexuality, all taken from Gordon's text, interspersed with some of the titillating erotica of the time. If you're in an office, read on at your own risk. 

"Philosophical texts" use to mean something far dirtier.

In the 17th century, the French monarchy strictly censored publications endorsing libertine beliefs. Thus Parisians began buying "immoral" literature -- radical political text interlaced with ribald sexual descriptions -- from sex workers. The pamphlets were hilariously called "philosophical books" and, less surreptitiously, "fuck-mania."

King Francis thought the fleur-de-lys was a drawing of a d**k.

When he wasn't engaging in incestuous relations with his older sister, 16th century King Francis I branded his courtesans with a fleur-de-lys on their buttocks. Although the stylized lily was once a symbol for purity, Francis' crude interpretation symbolized an engorged penis between two spread legs. 

Breast rubs were a form of medicine, apparently.

In the late 18th century, Louis XVI surrounded himself with with courtiers who mixed eroticism with medical science and the occult. For example, alchemist and conman Franz Mesmer believed that impotence was a manifestation of "terrestrial fluid blockage" that could be cured through an all-night seance, and that frigidity could be remedied with a vigorous boob massage.

Parisians had strange associations with mustard and onions. 

Vocab lesson! Moutardiers, which literally translates to "mustard-makers," referred to buttocks back in the day. Oignons, or "onions," meant anuses. 

Most Parisian brothels were modeled after domestic spaces.

Of the 211 brothels licensed by Parisian authorities in 1930, nearly 90 percent were small-time operations with single-family staffs. They were usually called maisons de rendez-vous or "houses of contact," and normally attracted regulars from the neighborhood who'd stop by after work, have a drink, complain about work, and eventually get it on. As Gordon writes, "the social setting deliberately emulated the fixed contours of bourgeois domesticity with a slightly more upbeat finale." 

When it comes to sex, people were always into weird s**t.

Sometimes, quite literally. As Marie-Thérèse Cointre penned in her 1946 memoir The Life of a Prostitute: "Most of the customers were weird little guys. I came back lots of times with one who made me shit on his chest: then he'd lick my ass clean. Monsieur got that treatment for a hundred francs a slice. There was another one who made me stick a pin into the tips of his tits and burn them with a cigarette." 

This catchphrase for fellatio should not be taken literally.

More vocabulary: branlette or "sword play" refers to masturbation, and cache-cache, "hide and seek," is to make love. Tailler une pipe translates to "cutting a tube" and refers to fellatio. Ouch. 

There was a death-themed cabaret that seems very gross and very popular.

In 1890, in the Montmartre district, a restaurant and nightspot opened called the Cabaret du Néant, fully focused on death and the disintegration of the human body. Coffins served as dining tables, pallbearers took you to your table, cocktails were nicknamed deadly afflictions like "malignant cancer." Real human skeletons adorned the walls and some guests recall a graveyard stench wafting through the bar. 

Full-bodied kings had special chairs for sex. 

For the furniture lovers among us, allow me to introduce you to "Dirty Bertie's love-throne" or the fauteuil d'amour. The contraption was designed so that Edward VII, a rather large man, could mount his female partner without squashing her.   

The High Priestess of Love made a divine prediction.

In the 1930s, a Russian mystic by the name of Maria de Naglowska preached a mystical doctrine throughout Paris. She divided human history into three divine archetypes based on Judaism, Christianity and what she called the Third Term of the Trinity.

First, there's religion of the father, the "divisive male principle, where love seeks flesh." Then there was the religion of the son, "the neutral and passive principle, which rejects flesh completely." And finally, the religion of the mother, TTT, "where love, raising from flesh, allows mankind to achieve sublime purity." Naglowska, who held weekly services and distributed her beliefs in pamphlets around Montparnasse, became known as the High Priestess of Love. 

Naked balls were a thing. 

Students and artists in the Latin Quarter of Paris were known for throwing riotous bashes before their exams to provide much-needed study breaks. The parades doubled as scholarly attempts to resuscitate the wild energy of medieval Paris and counteract the pious sobriety that dominated the sphere.

Apparently, feces and urine were poured into holy vessels as replacements for water and wine. And one of the wildest balls was the Bal des Quat'z' Arts, in which students rushed into the streets and shocked passersby by getting naked. Not too surprisingly, the whole thing turned into a "drunken orgy of naked bodies." 

"Horizontal Collaboration," published by Feral House is available on Amazon.

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On Feb. 29, President Barack Obama and ballerina Misty Copeland sat down with Time reporter Maya Rhodan to talk about race, gender and success in their respective careers.

While one currently resides at the White House and the other can often be found rehearsing in the storied halls of the American Ballet Theatre, they've encountered similar setbacks and triumphs, whether they're talking about the body image ideals of classical ballet or the way social media is used by political activists today. 

This week, Essence Magazine is running a three-part video series that gives a peek inside the White House Cabinet room, where the interview took place. The clips show Copeland, a member of the presidential Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, and Obama discussing Black Girl Magic, Black Lives Matter, and the realities of raising two African American women today.

Here are 11 of the best quotes from the interview: 

On the Power Of Athleticism

"As a father of two daughters, seeing how images of strong athletic accomplished women carry over, and encouraging them in sports and dance and how they move physically, it turns out that every study shows that young girls who are involved in sports, dance, athletics end up having more confidence generally." --Barack Obama

On Humility

"For all the blessings and privileges and responsibilities that I’ve gotten, I’m just representing a huge cross section of people who are talented and capable and supported me getting to where I came from." -- BO

On Race

"A lot of what I’ve experienced has not always been to my face, or it’s been very subtle. But it’s in a way that I know what’s going on and I feel it deep inside of me. And I, being the only African American in almost every environment in terms of classical ballet, it weighs on you and it wears on you after a while [...] I think that being African American has definitely been a huge obstacle for me. But it’s also allowed me to have this fire inside of me that I don’t know if I would have or have had if I weren’t in this field." -- Misty Copeland

On the Future of Ballet

"I think that being in this position and showing that I can execute and do all of these things, that it’s possible to have any skin complexion, to have a healthy body image for the ballerina body. I think it’s given me more of a voice. And it’s I think forcing a lot of these top tier companies to address the lack of diversity and diversifying the bodies that we’re seeing in classical ballet. It’s really forcing that conversation to be had." -- MC

On Black Girl Magic

"To use social media to have a positive impact on our generation is huge [...] to have movements like Black Girl Magic, I think it couldn’t be more positive for a young black girl to see that it’s okay to be yourself, it’s okay to not have to transform and look like what you may see on the cover of a lot of magazines. That you are beautiful, that it’s possible to succeed in any field that you want to, looking the way that you do." -- MC

On Social Media

"Well social media obviously is the way in which young people are receiving information in general. So the power of young activists to help shape color and politics through things like Black Lives Matter, which I think is hugely important. And when I think about the journey I’ve traveled, there’s no doubt that young African America, Latino, Asian, LGBT youth, they have more role models. They have more folks that they can immediately identify with." -- BO

On Mentorship

"I hope that there are young men of color who are looking at me and saying, I can aspire to be the president, or a senator, or a community organizer and make change in my neighborhoods. But if they are locked out of opportunity, and in neighborhoods where even if I’m on television, there are no men in their neighborhoods who’ve got jobs that are able to support a family, then you’ve still got problems." -- BO

On Opportunity

"You know, being the only African American at this level in American Ballet Theatre, I feel like people are looking at me, and it’s my responsibility for me to do whatever I can to provide these opportunities in communities to be able to educate them. And if that means having a program just for black dancers to allow them to have the same opportunity that generations and generations of white dancers have had, it’s necessary." -- MC

On Teaching Kids about Race

"You know, I mean I think about this now as a parent. Michelle and I are having a lot of conversations around the dinner table. And for me, what I always try to transmit to my kids is that issues of race, discrimination, tragic history of slavery and Jim Crow, all those things are real. And you have to understand them and you have to be knowledgeable about them. And recognize that they didn’t stop overnight. Certainly not just when I was elected." -- BO

On Divisions

"Part of what I think successful social movements have involved is having a certain righteous anger about injustices being done to you, but also understanding that people who are on the other side of this, they’ve got their own history and their own circumstances. And you have to understand that, and you have to recognize that each of us has some good and some bad in is. And that’s not an excuse, but what it does do is it gives us an opportunity then to have a conversation and to reach across the divide." -- BO

On Education

"Well, you know, I spend most of my time thinking about institutions. And there’s no doubt, even though it’s a cliché that the single biggest difference we can make is making sure that our kids get a good education. We can do a lot to keep the economy moving forward, we can do a lot to make sure that we’re enforcing our nondiscrimination laws. We can do a lot more to open up people’s perspective about who belongs where. And press to make sure that we have more women CEOs, and more African American film directors. And more Latino police officers. And all those things are important. But the foundation that all this depends is making sure that on the front end, when these little babies are born and start to get curious about the world and are like sponges, that we are giving them the kind of education and the nurturing that they need. So that they’re off to a good start. And that involves an imaginative leap, a moral leap on the part of the society as a whole that says every kid should get a genuine opportunity and we’re willing to put money behind it, and we’re willing to invest in that to break cycles of poverty." --  BO

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Sleep paralysis may seem like a Surrealist metaphor, but it's a very real health condition that affects roughly 8 percent of the population. It renders people who are on the brink of wakefulness -- either falling asleep or waking up -- temporarily unable to move or react, often while experiencing terrifying and vivid hallucinations.

After struggling with the disorder throughout his life, photographer Nicolas Bruno decided to incorporate it into his work. 

"Sleep paralysis is a daunting condition," Bruno told The Huffington Post. "Your conscious mind begins to go into a panic, which induces terrifying visuals that often engage with the sufferer, such as looming dark figures or heavy pressures on one's chest."

Sleep paralysis is a wonky byproduct of healthy brain functionality, suggests science writer Sam Kean, who has authored a book on the quirks of neuroscience. He writes that the condition is related to miscommunication among the three main parts of the brain: the "reptilian" brain that controls basic functions like heart rate, the "mammalian" brain that processes sense and memory, and the "primate" brain, which controls decision-making and complex thought. 

While these parts usually work together just fine, communication can get mixed up, causing strange conditions like sleep paralysis. Basically, when your mind "wakes up" during a dream but your body remains physically immobile, it creates a perfect storm for hallucinations. There's a dissociation between the activity of the brain and the physical stillness of REM sleep, one sleep study explains.

The disorder has been linked to traumatic life incidents,anxiety and depression. A 2011 analysis of sleep paralysis research indicates that psychiatric patients with panic disorders are most likely to suffer from the condition.  

Doctors have not standardized a treatment for the condition, but some coping strategies include adopting a regular sleep schedule and learning behavioral techniques to stay calm or dissociate yourself from a hallucination.

Bruno said his nighttime hallucinations are closely tied to his emotional state, and that he considered his art project to be like a form of therapy.

"By translating my dream experiences into my artwork, it has lifted my spirits from a darker place than I used to reside in," he said. "Each day that passes, I am able to gain more control over what happens within my episodes."

You can see the whole eerie photo series below, and find more of Bruno's work on his Facebook page.

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In case you haven't heard, "Hamilton," the Broadway musical that combines hip hop and history to tell the tale of the titular Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, is vacationing at the White House. 

In a recent #Ham4Ham video, writer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda announced the March 14 trip to Washington, D.C. 

"The entire cast of 'Hamilton,' we're all going,” Miranda explained in the video. “We're going to be trying out our educational program with some kids; we're going to do a concert for the First Family; and we're going to shoot so many Ham4Ham videos in there -- you have no idea what's about to hit you."

For those of us not invited to the coveted "Hamilton" event, fear not. According to Broadway World, the White House will be live-streaming the president's remarks and the opening number of the performance at 5:30 p.m. ET. According to the "Hamilton" Twitter handle, the cast is already there, posting updates under the hashtag #Bam4Ham. 

During the cast's stay, Michelle and Barack Obama will introduce the stars to the White House crowd before they perform a selection of songs from their show and host a Q&A and student workshop. The cast will likely discuss the $1.46 million program that provides “Hamilton” tickets to New York City public school students at a cost of just $10 per person, as well as the mini “Hamilton” curriculum that will incorporate studies and performances for history students and teachers. 

Stay tuned for more #Ham4Ham videos -- the digital version of the skits "Hamilton" cast members perform for lottery ticket hopefuls waiting in line in New York City -- on the musical's YouTube channel. In the meantime, check out the #Bam4Ham photos hitting Instagram already. 

Bonus -- at 1:45 p.m. ET, you can watch the first lady officially welcome the cast. Who knew you'd be watching so much White House Live today?

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A dozen college students dressed in every color, their long kurtas studded with tiny light-catching mirrors, assembled in the wings at Columbia University’s Roone Arledge Auditorium in New York. They swayed nervously from foot to foot, going over the steps of their traditional Indian folk dance routine in their heads, before a loud drum beat rang out.

With large smiles fixed on their faces, the dancers poured out onto the lit stage. The crowd began to whistle and cheer for their friends as they kicked up their legs and created the mesmerizing formations that are part of a bhangra dance performance.

“There’s something just magnetic about [bhangra] and something just really inclusive that really drew me towards it,” said Gurnoor Tucker, a sophomore who dances for Columbia University Bhangra. “You start with barely any skill at all, you build up, and you get inspired.”

Tucker is one of thousands of students in America enjoying the hugely popular bhangra dance form, which comes from India and includes variations of folk dances from the Punjab region of South Asia. Halftime performances, assemblies and culture shows have helped bhangra become a more visible fixture on university campuses.  

Dancers perform bhangra in a traditional multicolored layered outfit topped with a pleated turban for men and a gauzy scarf for women. They jump into elaborate formations and perform stunts during the rapid-fire eight minutes that make up a standard routine.

Legs crooked at 90-degree angles, arms raised high above shoulder-level, bass-heavy music and an undefinable sense of energy and grace known as "nakhra" characterize the dance form itself.

How Bhangra Came To America

Bhangra dance and music traveled to the West in the suitcases of South Asian immigrants in the 1970s and 1990s. When it first reached American shores, it wasn’t the full-fledged college staple it is today -- instead, it gained popularity through something called Bhangra Remix. Young second-generation South Asians living in the U.S. mixed Punjabi riffs into their music and danced a type of bhangra in club basements.

“Bhangra emerged along with a need for a kind of cultural space in that generation, as they were expanding in the 90s with greater immigration and coming of age,” said Sunaina Maira, a professor of Asian-American studies at University of California, Davis, and author of the book Desis in the House: Indian American Youth Culture In New York City.

Today, bhangra is still a crucial way for young Indian-American college students to carve out a space to socialize and explore their culture. Many dancers said that joining a bhangra dance team allowed them to connect more to their roots -- something they won't compromise, though they have heavy course loads and practices can be as often as six days a week.  

“I prioritize bhangra after school. I’m also an RA [resident assistant], so that takes precedence, but then it’s bhangra,” said CU Bhangra dancer and pre-med student Manini Desai. “Bhangra is the thing, I think, that keeps me sane.” 

While competitions are battlegrounds for teams to show the world what they’re made of, they're also a testament to the closeness of the bhangra community.

“You would see the same people at competitions, whether you’re traveling [on the] East Coast, West Coast or Midwest,” said Saleem Malkana, founder of the Bhangra Teams' Forum and a former captain for Cornell Bhangra. “These are friendships, and you have such a common bond -- like, say, dancing in the parking lot at midnight after a competition or something like that. These are really strong bonds that create friendships that continue for years.”  

Where Is Bhangra Headed?

Now that dancers can easily access competition videos through the Bhangra Teams' Forum and YouTube, bhangra has expanded beyond college campuses. Because there is no official college conference for bhangra, non-college teams comprised of alumni or teams from abroad also participate in the same competitions. Last year, a British team named Josh Valaithian Da won first place at World’s Best Bhangra Crew -- one of the most selective and elite competitions in the world -- signaling a sea change for bhangra dancers everywhere.   

“The circuit has become less collegiate, and I think it’s become geared more toward independent teams now,” said Naina Sahrawat, a CU Bhangra dancer. “So placing is part two of your accomplishments, getting into the competition is part one. They’re so competitive now, especially with U.K. and Australian teams coming in. The pool is just increasing tenfold from what it used to be.”

Collegiate teams, Sahrawat says, have to “be realistic” when going up against these often more-experienced teams.

“Being a collegiate team, a lot of the time we’re not in the position to take risks or we just don’t have those perspectives, because you need the stability of an independent team both in terms of talent and credibility to go after something more daring,” said Akshaya Nataraj, another CU Bhangra dancer.

But that doesn't mean college bhangra is going away. Bhangra has always adopted and remixed different influences and music genres, and college teams are evolving to accommodate these changes.

“[Bhangra] has helped dancers form a unique identity around being an Indian-American or a Pakistani-American, or even for people not of South Asian origin, to be a part of this community and have a really unique identity. That didn’t exist before,” said Joy Dhar, a bhangra dancer and one of the organizers of Bhangra Blowout, an intercollegiate bhangra competition that began in 1993.

“We’re trying to reignite the fire, focus on creativity and really bring it back to just the fun that bhangra still is.”

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A Los Angeles-based photographer is taking pole dancing out of the strip clubs and into a swimming pool.

Brett Stanley, 40, enjoys taking photos of pole dancers performing underwater.

He says it's a way to show the activity as "a beautiful sport, not just an erotic performance,” according to Barcroft TV.

That spin is why April Stanley, a 42-year-old pole dancing instructor chose to grind it out in the photo shoot.

“I do it because I want to get rid of that stigma that everybody has about pole dancing that it’s from clubs and all that. I love it because it’s beautiful and athletic and artistic,” she said.

As you might expect, pole dancing underwater presents some challenges for the dancer and the photographer.

“I can hold my breath for over 60 seconds generally," Stanley told Barcroft TV. "[That's] usually long enough to get the shots, but I did have three amazing models from Japan who could stay down for three times that long. I tried to keep up and it nearly killed me!"

Stanley isn't the only photographer trying to make a splash with pictures of pole dancers underwater.

Toronto photographer Sylvia Eng is also making waves with a series of pictures dedicated to underwater pole dancing.

"I have always found it really fascinating that a dance form that seems to have such a bad reputation for objectifying women was the place I found a sisterhood of strong feminists, and such amazing body image messages," she told The Huffington Post.

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But a few months ago, the Internet was agog with videos of cats freaking the f**k out at the sight of a cucumber.

The headlines followed, from the plain "People Are Scaring Their Cats with Cucumbers" to the incredulous "Why Are Cats So Insanely Afraid Of Cucumbers?" to the chastising "Why You Shouldn't Scare Your Cat With a Cucumber." Weeks after the GIFs of cats jumping feet in the air upon laying eyes on a gourd initially went viral, Redditors are still obsessed. And so, it seems, are artists.

"'The Cucumber Incident' explains exactly nothing and everything in response to the viral YouTube sensation of cats being scared by cucumbers,"Jason Edward Davis explained to The Huffington Post, of his aptly named artwork shown below. "Cats exist simultaneously as both an adorable symbol for domesticity and the spooky embodiment of the dark arts [...] I wanted to explore that intense discomfort you experience when your adorable little purring kitten suddenly stares horrifyingly shocked over your shoulder at the creeping-god-knows-what, because you live alone and you’re not sure if the ghost is back."

Davis is one of 70 international artists participating in "Cat Art Show LA 2," the sequel to 2013's cat-centric exhibition curated by Susan Michal's in Los Angeles, California. Set for March 24 at Think Tank Gallery, the show will once again focus on the cat -- "our domesticated companion and Internet meme" -- as muse.

"'Cat Art Show LA 2: The Sequel' is a continuation of our inaugural cat art outing which brought together cat lovers and art enthusiasts,” Susan Michals, curator of the show, explains online. "We have asked each artist the basic question, what is the true meaning of cat for you -- ally, domestic partner, enemy, frenemy, allergic reaction or guru? From that, each artist’s interpretation is unique and honest."

"Cats have been part of our lives for thousands of years," Michals, the mind behind CatConLA, adds. "The Egyptians frequently aligned them with the gods and artists like Picasso created masterpieces centered around cats. Now people post them on Instagram and artists interpret them."

For most of the artists on view, cats represent a cuddly force of nature, at once sweet and sinister, capable not only of entertaining the masses but cleverly maintaining control in the domestic spaces they occupy.

"I think [cats] represent the absolute best and worst of society," artist Davis added. "We love the love we get from them, but we really are in it for their unattainable 'bad boy' attitudes. Besides, we all know the Internet was invented for videos of two things, and with more and more people connected via their phone, there is a 50 percent chance that the person sitting next to you is watching a video with cats. On the other hand, if the video they are watching isn't about cats, you should probably change seats."

All of the artwork from "Cat Art Show LA 2" will be available for sale this month, including both originals and limited editions, and a portion of the proceeds will go to Kitten Rescue Los Angeles. Bonus, if you look through the images here, you'll see a cameo from comedian Ricky Gervais, who, according to artist Rich Hardcastle, loves cats too.

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Religion and science are often pitted against one another as supposedly irreconcilable foes. 

But that isn't the whole picture. In fact, 51 percent of American scientists believe in God or a higher power, and some of the most renowned scientists throughout history have used their research and observations to answer life's biggest philosophical questions. Even Pope Francis has worked to build bridges between science and faith.

Tommaso Todesca, an Italian Catholic with a passion for literature, wants to highlight the more nuanced relationship between the science and religion -- and he's using a graphic novel to do it. Todesca, a banker based in Los Angeles, set up a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the project.

The idea for the graphic novel came to him last year when he read an Italian book called Scienza e fede, or Science and Faith, by professors Giuseppe Savagnone and Alfio Briguglia. Todesca initially wanted to translate the book into English, he said, then decided on the comic book format with the hope of reaching an even wider audience.

The "hook of the project," Todesca said, is the message that "science and faith are not in conflict with each other."

"Through the patience of dialogue, science and faith can and should complement each other, and make each other stronger," he told The Huffington Post.

The graphic novel will feature Savagnone and Briguglia -- a philosopher and a physicist, respectively -- as comic book characters who go on a journey that takes them from Rome to Florence to Toulouse, meeting with great scientists and thinkers of the past and the present, including Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Thomas Aquinas.

Their dialogue draws from the original book, which Todesca said "makes a compelling case for faith as a type of knowledge that can find its ground in rationality."

Todesca enlisted the talent of U.K.-based artist Harvey Dormer to illustrate the novel, which he said will be about 100 pages long. He hopes to raise $10,000 through his Kickstarter page primarily to compensate Dormer. For himself, he said, "it's a work of pure passion."

Check out some of the graphic novel's initial panels below:

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Author Greg McGoon is set to release his third children's book, Traveling the Twisting Troubling Tanglelows' Trail, on Tuesday, and The Huffington Post has an exclusive first look. 

The first in a planned series, Traveling the Twisting Troubling Tanglelows' Trail travels inside the mind and introduces readers to the Tanglelows, defined as "rascally critters" that can "tangle" your thoughts. McGoon, whose previous books includeThe Royal Heart and Out of the Box, uses the "creatures" to explore feelings of self-worth, anxiety and depression in a playful, even whimsical way. 

The book is a slight shift fromThe Royal Heart, which put a modern spin on fairy tales by featuring a prince who transformed into a princess. McGoon, who is openly gay, said he wanted to incorporate "emotional experiences that go beyond my sexuality" into Traveling the Twisting Troubling Tanglelows' Trail, which features illustrations by Jessa Orr. 

"There are many reasons I have struggled to wake up in the morning, and question myself; however, at the root of overcoming these feelings is not from examining my sexuality, it's looking at the foundation of love which does not discriminate," McGoon, who names Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein as his inspirations, told HuffPost. 

"Hopefully in reading this book it may give a person, no matter their background, a bit of insight into their own doubts, worries and concerns that tangle their thoughts about themselves, and recognize how kindness plays a role," he said. "Love exists all over. Unfortunately hate can be louder. If children feel safe, and have the ability to live with the freedom to discover the world and themselves, then love and acceptance can thrive." 

McGoon is best known in New York theatrical circles as a performer, and he has appeared in the annual "Broadway Bares" fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. While his literary pursuits represent a shift from the stage, McGoon said his experiences as an actor have allowed him "to expand my voice by exploring many others." 

"Theater and performing provided me the confidence to take my feelings from stage to page," he said. 

Traveling the Twisting Troubling Tanglelows' Trailhits stores on March 15. 

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It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a three-story mural of a nude Kim Kardashian! 

Kardashian, who broke the Internet (again) last week by Instagramming a naked photo of herself, is now the subject of a very large art piece in Melbourne, Australia.

The massive masterpiece appears on the back of a printing shop. Lush Sux, a street artist and social media activist, has claimed responsibility for the work. 

You have to admit, the painting is a pretty incredible rendition of the 35-year-old reality star's photo: 

UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long. 

In an email correspondence with The Huffington Post, Lush Sux -- who also goes by Mark Walls -- sent proof that his mural had been damaged as of Tuesday morning in Australia: 

Walls said that the painting process was "as long as it took Kim Kardashian to get 100000 comments on the original photo of herself in the nude." So we're guessing not long, but still a lot of effort to see it destroyed. 

Walls said he instantly wanted to paint the nude Instagram when he saw it on Kim K's page and put it "in public, on a three story high building." 

"It's just another painting in a long line of paintings I have completed that seem to get people all frazzled," said Walls, adding "Maybe I'm as much of an attention seeker as she is?"

Considering Kardashian recently wore a jacket with multiple images of her face on it, we'll have to see about that. 

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For more than 1,000 years, Matrera Castle, a medieval fortress in southern Spain, stood the test of time.

But when part of the castle's main tower partially collapsed three years ago, a restoration project began with the goal of returning it to its original shape and dimensions, perhaps ensuring it will last for another millennium.

Now the beautiful, crumbling ruins are permanently cemented in a modern, stucco-looking edifice, and the "fix" has been met with outrage and ridicule. 

Behold, Castillo de Matrera -- post-surgery. 

Hispania Nostra, a Spanish cultural heritage group, described the work as a "disaster" and "truly lamentable," and said it has left both locals and foreigners surprised in the worst of ways. 

“It isn't necessary to describe it, as it can be seen in the photographs," the group wrote, calling the result is a "massacre" of the Spanish heritage. 

As The Guardian reports, one local told La Sexta, "They’ve got builders in rather than restorers and, like we say 'round here, they’ve cocked it up.”

The images have also drawn plenty of criticism on social media.

In an interview with The New York Times, Carlos Quevedo Rojas, the architect behind the restoration, said he understands "the criticism of local people used to seeing the tower look a certain way,” but that the main objective of the project -- which cost hundreds of thousands of euros -- was to prevent what remained of the fortress from collapsing. He also explained that in Spain, restorations must maintain a structure's historical value and architectural integrity.

“You can’t make the structure have the same appearance as the original," Rojas told the Times. "You can’t falsify the appearance. It has to be clear which parts are new and which are old.”

While many blasted the restoration, others came to Rojas' defense.

But some critics have even gone so far as to compare it to the infamous botched repair of a century-old painting of Christ, known commonly as "Beast Jesus."

For those who forgot about an elderly woman's 2012 attempt to repair a century-old “Ecce Homo” fresco of Jesus -- considered among the worst art restorations of all time -- here's an ugly reminder.

What do you think? 

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The hotly anticipated reboot of "Xena: Warrior Princess" will venture beyond the original series by featuring an out lesbian character as its protagonist. 

Screenwriter Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who previously wrote episodes of "Lost" and "The 100," said he plans to explore the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle for the update, which is currently in development.

While the original fantasy-adventure series, which aired from 1995 until 2001, hinted at a more-than-sisterly bond between Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), Grillo-Marxuach implied that the two women will be lovers in his version. 

On Tumblr, he promised that his "Xena" would be "a very different show" than "The 100," which was recently criticized after a lesbian character, Lexa, was killed off. 

"There is no reason to bring back 'Xena' if it is not there for the purpose of fully exploring a relationship that could only be shown subtextually in first-run syndication in the 1990s," he wrote. "It will also express my view of the world -- which is only further informed by what is happening right now -- and is not too difficult to know what that is if you do some digging."

The original Xena seemed to offer her personal, albeit cheeky, blessing on Twitter. Along with a link to a Vanity Fair piece which reported the news, Lawless wrote: 

In 2008, O'Connor said she believed that the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle was more than just subtext. 

"It was very clear that we were together," she told AfterEllen in an interview at the time. "They are so in love with each other, they love each other so dearly; there’s no way you can say that’s not true. Anyone can see that from watching the show."

We couldn't be more thrilled that the "are-they-or-aren't-they?" tone of the original "Xena: Warrior Princess" is a thing of the past. At least, we'll get to see a fleshed-out depiction of a queer relationship, albeit with fantastical elements, in our living rooms.  

Check out a news report on the reboot, which is being developed by original co-creator Rob Tapert (Lawless's husband) and Sam Raimi for NBC. 

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Beyoncé's call for women to get in "Formation" has inspired five remarkable women to do just that -- using the art of tap dancing.  

In a video posted online Sunday, five black women bring the song's lyrics to life through a phenomenal tap dance performance. And just when you think it's over, the video then shows women around the world emulating the flawless routine. 

(Watch below.) 

The video was produced and choreographed by Chloe and Maud Arnold, two sisters from Washington D.C. who are members of tap dance group "Syncopated Ladies," which Chloe founded. Chloe and Maud said they were moved by Beyoncé's new single and the singer's call for solidarity among women. 

"Beyoncé is so inspiring as a black woman because she's extremely talented but beyond that she's a business woman, she's kind, she's amazing, she's everything you want to be," Maud told The Huffington Post. "She holds her sisters up, she inspires others, she loves being a black woman and she embraces it. And it's really important for us to express that, too." 

In less than one day, the video has been watched more than 2 million times on Facebook, and has even Queen B herself shared it.

"We wanted to start a movement to show how powerful black women in tap dance are," Maud said of her older sister's dance group, which has previously given a nod to Beyoncé. "Just how black culture influences the world... my sister and I, as black women, have been able to influence the world of dance." 

Maud also told HuffPost that she and her sister want to bring attention to the cultural origins of tap as a black American art form that dates back to the days of slavery.

Both sisters trained under the legendary Debbie Allen who broke barriers as a dancer, choreographer, author and actor. It was Allen's intensive summer-long dance program that first inspired Chloe and Maud to pursue their passion for tap dance. 

"Debbie Allen was our catalyst," Maud said. "She is a phenomenal mentor. We say her name and give thanks whenever possible."

In addition to Syncopated Ladies, the sisters have also founded a production company, several clothing lines and a mentoring group where they teach and perform tap around the world.

"We are our own bosses just like Beyoncé, which is why we look up to her," Maud said. "We really want to empower everybody."

Slay ladies, slay. 

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At this point, is there anything we don't know about "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"? As far as the new making-of documentary that will appear on the forthcoming DVD/Blu-ray is concerned, not really. 

The hourlong "Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey" premiered at South by Southwest on Monday, where J.J. Abrams made a surprise appearance to introduce the film. (Abrams was participating in a panel with "The Jinx" director Andrew Jarecki later that afternoon.) As the doc proves, Disney's intense marketing campaign fed us pretty much everything we could hope to know about the creation of "Episode VII." And we shouldn't be surprised, anyway -- this is a Disney-sanntioned documentary, so there was no reason to expect a gossipy tell-all. The details of George Lucas selling Lucasfilm and Michael Arndt's initial script being gutted are glossed over, while Harrison Ford's on-set injury and the rumors of clashes about the release date aren't mentioned at all. 

Still, the movie is ripe with behind-the-scenes footage that will appease "Star Wars" fans, and there are at least a few morsels sprinkled throughout that possibly qualify as new information. And the whole thing is worth watching just to witness Gwendoline Christie's infectious laugh, which had the SXSW crowd in stitches. Here are 10 other tidbits.

1. When Kathleen Kennedy, who’d just taken over for George Lucas as the president of Lucasfilm, first approached J.J. Abrams about directing “The Force Awakens,” Abrams intended to turn down the offer. Having made multiple “Mission: Impossible” and “Star Trek” movies, he felt he’d done enough sequels. It was what became the movie’s central question -- where is Luke Skywalker? -- and the idea that a new heroine would be the one to search for Luke that convinced Abrams to take on the project.

2. Daisy Ridley auditioned with the intense mind-control scene that Rey shares with Kylo Ren. 

3. In the first version of the script that Oscar Isaac read, Poe Dameron died. But Isaac said he was “sick of dying early on” in the movies he makes, so when Abrams offered him the part, he informed him that Poe now survives. That means we can thank Isaac for all those hopes the Internet once had for a romance between Poe and Finn.

4. Simon Pegg was “dying” to be in the movie, but he and Abrams knew it would be too uncanny to have a prominent “Star Trek” actor in a recognizable role. Abrams suggested he provide the voice for a character, but when Pegg visited the London set, they landed on the gruff Jakku junkyard dealer Unkar Plutt instead.

5. Abrams made sure women played Stormtroopers as well, because who says the masked Dark Side soldiers have to be male? One female extra said the costumes feel like “heavy rock sacks.” Running uphill during action sequences wasn't easy.

6. Gwendoline Christie appreciated that Captain Phasma’s armor wasn’t “feminized,” but she wanted to find a way to assert the character’s gender in her physical behavior, especially since Phasma never removes her mask. She did so by making Phasma’s mannerisms, particularly the way she stands, somewhat ladylike. 

7. Peter Jackson, Malala Yousafzai and “Star Trek” star Karl Urban all visited the set at Pinewood Studios.

8. For Adam Driver, putting on the Kylo Ren costume was arduous -- an “event,” as he called it. By the time he was finally dressed every day, Driver would feel “so pissed” about the ordeal that he would automatically be in the headspace to play the evil overlord. Remarking on the costume, Driver and Abrams described its imperfections as a signal of Kylo Ren’s overzealous attempt to emulate his grandfather, Darth Vader.

9. The origin story of C-3PO’s red arm will be revealed in a forthcoming comic book.

10. Carrie Fisher called her first day on the “Force Awakens” set the “worst” of her career. Fisher was “nervous” she’d make mistakes -- and she did. Abrams acknowledged that Fisher doesn’t act much anymore and needed to get back in the groove of playing Princess Leia 31 years after “Return of the Jedi,” but he said she mastered it quickly. Fisher called her reunion with Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill at the first table read -- footage of which is included in the documentary -- “trippy.”

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