Stress vs. Distress

Here we are, the middle of the quarter, feeling the mid-quarter fatigue. A lot of us are sore, tired, stressed, and over our heads. How can we keep this lackadaisical feeling from creeping into our technique classes, specifically ballet? It sounds easy enough to say "man up or woman up" and rise to the occasion. This is of course the only way to make progress and to grow as a dancer. Sometimes, even when you feel your worst, you have to push through and work harder. My question though is when does stress become distress? I know it's beneficial to work your muscles to the point where they are sore, building muscle memory and strength. When you are falling over, unable to even engage your muscles, and light headed from working so hard, does this "man or woman up" theory go too far? If you push too hard you could potentially hurt yourself in the long run. It's such a fine line, though, that it often gets blurred.

Of course as dancer's we are taught to push through pain. We get up each day knowing that we may be uncomfortable in our dance classes and that means we are doing it correctly. In order to get better we have to work harder. So when we feel this "distress" in our bodies we try to put on a courageous face and ignore it. How healthy is this though? Are we actually hurting our bodies, not allowing them the much needed resting time. I know as a professional dancer that you don't get to "give up" and sit down, so how do we approach this? I know that this line between stress and distress is individual to each dancer and we are our own judges, but when we are constantly being evaluated how can we still work hard without over stressing our bodies? I'm still trying to find this balance in my own body and I'm struggling with this idea of feeling my own body and finding the courage to either work through the stress or rest when I am in distress..

_Kelly