Design research is regarded to be a mode of inquiry particularly suited to engage with complex topics. In our work, we are interested in unpacking the complexity at the heart of an embodied aesthetic experience. In this article, through our digital and physical artefacts and a methodological reflection, we illustrate an ongoing design research project that a multi-disciplinary team of interaction designers, professional dancers, software developers, artists and 3D modelling experts are carrying out to develop insights on how to understand this complexity and how to use such insights as inspiration for interaction design-related projects. By embracing combinations of design, new technologies and simple visualisation tools, the project investigates the complex and hidden expressivity embedded in the skills of dancers in a programmatic design research approach. This investigation leads to insights on different levels. Firstly, cycles of formulation, realisation and reflection on design programs express parts of this complexity and this lets new research interests emerge. Secondly, as a body of work, reflecting on these cycles exposes how our “drifting” within this programmatic approach has started to unveil the complexities inherent in our research program. In this article we aim at contributing to the growing understanding of what designerly ways of knowing might be and how a practice aimed at expanding and contributing such knowledge unfolds.