HOT TIPS : RHUMBA, CHA-CHA, MEOW-MEOW.

You've heard of dancing in the dark? Dancing cheek to cheek? How about cat dancing?

No, not the 1973 Burt Reynolds movie about the man who loved ... well, you know. We're talking real dancing. With real cats.

Sounds a bit bizarre, but cat lovers Burton Silver and Heather Busch, who wrote and photographed the campy ``Why Cats Paint'' a few years ago, have teamed up on another book - ``Dancing With Cats'' (Chronicle Books; $16.95) - describing how cat owners can cut a rug with their feline friends.

We're not talking a traditional waltz or a samba or even a jitterbug here. No, siree. Cat dancing, as captured in the book's energy-filled photos, is more a lurch here and a leap there, punctuated by an occasional somersault or two.

Don't have a cat? Don't like to dance? You'll probably still marvel at the photos of cats and their owners dirty dancing for the camera.

- Carol Bidwell

Groovy lighting (fur sure)

It stands tall, wears a fuzzy coat and just begs to be touched. Yeah, baby. Just touch it.

Oh, beehaaaave.

We're talking about Target's perfectly innocent ``It'' lamp. The new, groovy, faux-fur accented lamps come in turquoise and white. Word is lamps like ``It'' will also come decked in feathers, shiny plastics and textured paper.

But you'll have to wait a few weeks before it shows up in stores. Target representatives say it won't be available until July 11.

Consider it an exercise in delayed gratification. Don't let the long wait steal your mojo - your light force, if you will. Just be grateful you won't have to pay $1 million for this shagadelic gem. ``It'' can be had for the modest price of $24.99.

- Betty Kwong

Lucky cap ... or foul tip?

Nice try, Mike Austin, but maybe you've been out in the sun too long without a hat.

Austin invented the Lucky Catch Cap, a baseball cap that doubles as a glove, after he opted out of pursuing a foul ball at a game for fear of the sting it would cause his bare hands. So, he devised a hat - which comes in cotton twill ($19.95) or wool blend ($20.95) - equipped with slots for your thumb and fingers and additional padding.

But here's the problem: The Lucky Catch Cap doesn't work.

The only balls you're likely to catch in this cap are ones tossed softly with plenty of arc. Fat chance of duplicating those conditions with balls hit at a Dodgers game.

And the additional padding is barely there. A sturdy Wonderbra might protect your hands better.

But the hat's biggest downfall is the Velcroed flap covering the finger slots. First, it's not attractive. More importantly, it's too cumbersome.

If a ball were headed toward you, by the time you got the hat off your head, detached the flap and positioned your fingers properly, the ball would have hit you and bounced off into someone else's waiting hands.

You can test the odds yourself by ordering a Lucky Catch Cap; just call [phone]. But if you're going to use a hat to catch a baseball, any old baseball cap will do just as well.

- Darrin Beene

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1--2--Color) no caption (Cats and people dancing)

(3--Color) no caption (Target's ``It'' lamp)

(4--Color) no caption (Lucky Catch Cap)