As contra dancers, we’re used to walkthroughs that are presented as lists of figures and roles: e.g., Neighbour allemande left once and a half, robins chain across, robins pass right shoulder to start a hey. But what if we were taught to think about the dance from the perspective of where we are, with whom we’re connected, and where we’re going? On the side with your neighbour, allemande left once and a half, sending one of you into a chain across to your partner; use the momentum of that courtesy turn to start a hey, passing right shoulder in the middle. In this workshop, we’ll think about the logic within conventions of contra choreography and how it contributes to the kinds of flow and momentum that make modern contra feel the way it does. New dancers will gain insight that will help them learn faster regardless of who’s calling, and experienced dancers will discover new ways to think about improvisation within a dance (switching, chaos, etc). Callers interested in the positional calling workshops are encouraged to see this session as a pre-workshop demonstration of positional calling. (P)