Enforced lockdown for a dancer is especially hard, but for Aucklander Lomina-Meteri Araitia it gave her time to breathe, but also to grieve.
Right now though she's about to show a new work created as part of the 11th Pacific Dance Choreographic Lab, drawing on her Cook Island and Tahitian heritage as a dancer and choreographer. It's part of Auckland Art Week.
The call went out for applications in July, despite the uncertainty around the pandemic and live performance. So the move to level 1 has come at just the right time for Lomina.
She's one of four mid-career choreographers selected for the Lab, that pairs them up with mentors to work on a risk-taking new dance.
Life's been full on for the young mother since graduating from PIPA - the Pacific Insititute of Performing Arts in Auckland.
Lynn Freeman talks to her about the emotional roller-coaster of her level 4 experience:
Her new work - and that of three other choreographers involved in the 2020 Pacific Dance Choreographic Lab - will be performed on Thursday Oct 15 at the Auckland Art Gallery.