When E-cadherin is away, centrosomes can play.

Centrosome clustering is a process frequently used by cancer cells with extra centrosomes to avoid multipolar divisions. How cell-intrinsic properties influence clustering is not entirely known. In this issue, Rhys et al. (2017. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201704102) report an unexpected link between clustering capacity and cortical contractility through E-cadherin and DDR1 proteins.