Drawing from applied performance practice research that examined the experiences of eight queer Desi/South Asian young adults in Toronto, this paper specifically uses micro-encounters to extend the idea that creative methods offer openings that facilitate different kinds of access for different participants. This paper also challenges the assumption that insider knowledge renders more access, and encourages researchers to 'work the shadows' and (re)consider the tensions and possibilities of using applied performance practices without reproducing normative visions of bodies and deficit social identity discourses.