BodySleuth: Queer(y)ing Social Somatics Through Virtual Playspaces
2020–2021
Overview
BodySleuth is a transmedia alternate reality game and social-somatic research project developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Designed as a virtual world where queerness was the norm rather than the anomaly, the project explored how embodied connection, collective meaning-making, and community care could be cultivated across physical distance through radically different engagement structures.
The project unfolded in two iterations with contrasting designs:
Iteration 1 (7 days, fully synchronous): Twenty-six participants received "BodySleuth Boxes" mailed to their homes containing tactile, sensory objects designed to accompany each night's live embodied movement practice within a fantasy world narrative. For one week, participants met nightly for unrepeated live performances—nothing was prerecorded. Participants solved body puzzles using their own movements to drive the narrative forward, with physical objects bridging digital space and home environments.
Iteration 2 (2 weeks, primarily asynchronous): Six months later, the project was redesigned with optional live performances but primarily self-guided exploration. The digital Gather.Town landscape evolved as the adventure progressed, and participants could engage at their own pace. This iteration eliminated mailed materials, testing how engagement, embodiment, and social connection shifted without tactile anchors and synchronous gathering.
Research Questions
How can movement and play function as investigative research methodologies within virtual environments?
How might social somatic experiences foster queer connection, care, and embodiment during isolation?
What are the possibilities and limitations of synchronous versus asynchronous structures for embodied presence in virtual space?
How do physical objects mediate or anchor embodied experience in digital environments?
Methods & Approach
This project employed performance as research (PAR) across two distinct iterations, integrating alternate reality game (ARG) design principles, social somatic practices adapted for digital environments, queer worldbuilding, and transmedia storytelling across platforms (Gather.Town, Zoom, physical mail, video). Mixed-methods data collection included participant surveys, reflective writing, and archived recorded sessions, with comparative analysis examining engagement patterns and design affordances between iterations.
Contribution
BodySleuth contributes a comparative model for body-centered digital design, demonstrating how different engagement structures (synchronous/asynchronous, object-based/purely digital) shape embodied presence in virtual environments. The two-iteration structure provides rare empirical comparison within performance-as-research, revealing how design choices impact participant engagement, embodied experience, and social connection.
The project advances conversations in dance, performance studies, queer studies, and game design by positioning play and somatic practice as investigative research methodologies rather than solely expressive forms. The work's use of mailed physical objects offers a model for hybrid virtual/physical approaches that bridge digital divides, while findings about asynchronous engagement contribute to understanding attention, motivation, and sustained embodied practice in self-directed virtual experiences.
Recognition & Dissemination
MFA Thesis, Arizona State University (2021)
Presentation: Leslie L. Smith Collegium, ASU
Featured in ASU News highlighting transdisciplinary graduate research
Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts (2021)
Funding
$2,000 - ASU Creative Constellation Grant
$800; ASU Dance Department Applied Project Funding