Things to Do in Collierville

Ballroom dance builds coordination, rhythm, and grace, and is an uncommonly enjoyable form of low-impact exercise for a high-impact blind date. The hip-limbering and feet-fancying Memphis Ballroom Dance Company can tackle the leftest of beginner left feet with the beginner ballroom dance class. Through a month's worth of once-weekly 50-minute lessons, you'll learn the basics of rumba, waltz, swing, foxtrot, and tango. Attend the Southhaven location on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. or the Collierville location on Saturdays at noon to sprinkle some rhythm in your bag of twists and shimmies. Unlike a marriage license, chess matches, and tandem Segways, you don't need a partner to attend ballroom lessons

At Blue Suede Ballroom, a team of world-class dance instructors helps to guide students across dance floors with Latin and ballroom techniques including salsa, swing, and tango. During three tiers of group lessons, instructors use repetition to encode the muscle memory dancers need to move gracefully while conversing or reciting pi to 100 places. The individual attention of private lessons allows students to learn at their own pace as they explore unfamiliar techniques or work out the kinks in their favorite maneuvers. Students as young as 10 may take lessons at the studio, developing moves that can wow their peers at school dances without resorting to shooting soda from their noses.

Blue Suede Ballroom regularly hosts open dance parties, venues for showing off techniques learned in American rhythm, American smooth, international Latin, and international standard classes.

The Collage dance Collective explores classical and contemporary ballet while pursuing its mission to increase diversity in the ballet world. Collage artistic director Kevin Thomas draws on ballet experience with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Royal Ballet of London in shaping the “Too Beauty” spring show. Spotlighting 10 of the collective’s professional dancers, “Too Beauty” boasts seven original choreographed pieces in which dancers fly and twirl to express their exquisite appreciation of corn dogs. The dancers infuse the 90-minute show with a medley of contemporary and classical styles, melding past and present influences together into a light soup of physical prowess and grace. Diverse music choices accompany the nimble prancing, from the classical work of romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns to the modern soul stylings of John Legend.

A piggy bank covered in polka dots, a platter celebrating Mother’s Day complete with each of her children’s handprints, a ceramic replica of Sesame Street’s Ernie—these are just a few of the projects that have emerged from Seize the Clay, a hands-on art studio specializing in pottery painting. In addition to embellishing various bisque pieces with unique designs, visitors can create glass-fused pendants, multihued mosaics, and silver-clay jewelry personalized with the initials of their beloved mail carrier. They can also try their hands at the potter’s wheel, hold birthday parties, or attend an interactive summer camp.

Although painting is a solitary experience for many artists, it becomes a color-strewn party at ArtJamN. Enthusiastic staff members encourage participants to interact, inspire each other, and even collaborate on the same canvas. Painters are outfitted with a bevy of paints and textures that add dimension to magnum opuses and make it easier to crawl into someone else's painting and take a nap. Both regular painting sessions and private parties introduce burgeoning artists to a cornucopia of artistic styles as they intermingle and sip from their own stash of adult beverages.

Your Groupon is good for one of the company's final three productions of its 40th season. Reacquaint yourself with the classic Oliver! and sing along to the musical tunes of your childhood, such as "Food, Glorious Food," and "Consider Yourself," as the rapscallion orphans of Dickens's tale tear through the streets of 19th-century London. Or opt for a ticket to the regional premiere of Red, White, and Tuna, a two-man portrayal of the inhabitants of a small Texas town with more than 15 characters and 40 lightning-quick costume changes. Or take in the musical Hairspray to relive the trials and tribulations of Tracy Turnblad as she breaks into the 1962 Baltimore dance-show circuit. Instead of threatening lawsuits or vicious revenge, the cast of local Memphis actors will dazzle audiences with their triple threats of singing, dancing, and acting.