Research concerned with the learning of arts practices can be meaningfully explored from within the studio. The complex affordances of being an insider-researcher of arts pedagogy are unpacked in this paper. I articulate an interpretive ethnographic approach to studio practice-based research conducted by the teacher/researcher by building on the understanding of pedagogy scholar Bryant Keith Alexander (2003) of the classroom as a situated cultural site. I describe the entwined, situated and partial perspective of my teacher/researcher role as a contemporary dance technique teacher, and discuss the complications of foregrounding participants’ perceptions while reflexively tussling with my own biases and assumptions. The inductive nature of this methodology and the ethical considerations of the pedagogical situation are examined. Furthermore, fieldwork is defined as embodied practice. Permeating this, an alliance/agitation of feminism and queer is considered as lens through which structural disruptions and social re-imaginings might be galvanised. Consequently, this paper contributes to an understanding of the relevance and credibility of practice-based research in recognition of the advantageous complications that arise in the learning context of the studio. Throughout, theoretical considerations are grounded in the actual pedagogical practice and experience from my own research processes. However far from formulaic, these function as illustrations of immersive research; offering examples that flow from my pedagogical context. By describing this immersive methodology and recounting my experiences as teacher/researcher, my aim is to enable other pedagogical arts researchers to utilise the conceptual framework and theoretical discussion for their own insider-research projects.