KnucklePrints

Animal artwork and portraits

By Tiffany Lester

Salsa Dancing

Besides painting, dancing has become my other major hobby. A friend of mine had gone a couple times to a salsa club with a group of girls from the zoo. I invited myself along one day and became hooked along with the rest of them. We went every week at first. Then we started going a couple times a week, sometimes driving an hour from Ft. Worth to Dallas just to get our salsa fix. I learned from friends, always asking them to show me some new moves.

When I moved to Atlanta, I decided to step up my game and learn more. Who knew there was a difference of dancing on1 and on2!? Apparently I had been dancing on1 (LA style) and a lot of people in ATL danced on2 (NY style, also known as mambo). So I started taking lessons. I now dance with Lucy Lu and her group of fabulous ladies! Look for us to perform sometime in the near future.

I have met many of my best friends through salsa dancing. The music infects you and so do the people. I speak no spanish (despite many of my friend's attempts to teach me!) but love it all anyway...it's the feeling that gets you.

Visit www.flavainvasion3.com for the HOTTEST salsa event coming up, the Flava Invasion

Tribal Bellydance

In Fort Worth I worked with all girls in the primate building. As crazy primate people (if you don't know this already...those who work with primates are a little crazy...but in a good way) we got it in our heads that taking a belly dancing class would be fun and something we could do together. So a class we took. It was a total blast! The ability to go to an all girls class, with all shapes, sizes and ethnicities was just plain wonderful. The chance to be girly for an hour by wearing sparkly belts and jewlery and learning how to get in touch with moving your body was something I never missed.

I began and continued cabaret style bellydance for a little over a year, performing a couple times with our group "Jewels of the Desert." Once I saw tribal bellydance, however, my focus changed. I started taking lessons with Tribal Feat and continued that for a year until I moved to Atlanta. I try to use what I have learned so far in my salsa dancing and hope to pick it up again soon. If you have the chance to go to a Rachel Brice website, check out some clips. She is one of the most amazing tribal dancers I have ever seen!!